"Stop the spread." You might think that phrase refers to stopping the spread of some dreaded disease. In this instance, you would be mistaken. The phrase refers to an insidious global epidemic of a different sort. Read on.
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Many New Yorkers take etiquette seriously. Some do not.
In this instance, we are talking about subway etiquette--the do's and don't's of using the trains that carry more than 5.5 million riders every weekday.
To help riders know what is good subway etiquette, the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) places signs and posters in subway cars about proper behavior on the subway--not blocking the door, giving a seat to someone who really needs it and not sexually harassing other riders. (Sadly, there are sick people who like to press up against others.)
Perhaps the most interesting poster addresses "manspreading", explained below.
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| Who knew? |
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| MTA Poster (2014-2016) |
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| MTA Poster on the R Train (April 2016) |
As it turns out, manspreading might be a new term but the practice is a perennial problem going back decades, if not longer. A current exhibit at a branch of the MTA's Transit Museum (yes, NYC has a Transit Museum . . . with branches) catalogs the problem of manspreading over time in NYC and elsewhere. Who knew manspreading was an insidious global issue?
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| NYC vintage subway poster |
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| From Tokyo (1976), The Seat Monopolizer (inspired by Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film The Great Dictator). Apparently, the folks in Tokyo take manspreading very seriously. |
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