The cesspool of ignorance that is BuzzFeed has done it again. “Three women experience what it’s like to manspread and take up space for one week” is the subject of a video posted a month ago, lowering the bar even more if that is even possible. The article can be found here but if you want to watch the actual video you have to do so on YouTube. They have disabled embedding for the video, meaning it won’t even play on their own site. They have also disabled comments, so for those you need to visit the article. Geniuses at work, obviously.
If you think that manspreading is an actual thing that men do to take up extra space just for the heck of it, please read this until “insert coin” stops flashing…
The testes are contained within a pouch of skin, known as the scrotum, outside of the abdominal cavity. Within the walls of the scrotum is a smooth muscle called the tunica dartos. Within the spermatic cord is a skeletal muscle called the cremaster muscle. While the cremaster muscle is composed of skeletal muscle fibers, its control, like that of the tunica dartos, is involuntary. These muscles work to contract the scrotum and to draw the testes towards the abdominal cavity when the testes are cold. They relax when the testes are too warm. Successful spermatogenesis is achieved at temperatures a few degrees below core body temperature. The extra-abdominal location of the testes is critical to spermatogenesis. The testes may be several Celsius degrees cooler than core body temperature. The skin of the scrotum tends to be rich with large apocrine sweat glands. [etsu.edu]
Too complicated? Don’t worry, I’ve translated it to buzzfeedish:
Balls should be cool. If balls are too cool they retract. If balls are too hot they hang down. Balls are sensitive. It is involuntary.
In essence, the reason men like to keep their legs slightly spread is to prevent our balls from overheating, not to mention from hurting as they are squashed between our thighs. Irregardless, these three ladies try to swing their non-existing balls in public for a week to show how horrible “manspreading” is.
Have a look at these women on public transportation:
And now these examples of men “manspreading” from the BuzzFeed video:
Giving your handbag its own seat is no problem, but not clenching your thighs together apparently is? Oh, BuzzFeed, if all you wanted was to take up space for a week you should have acted like regular women.
But unlike BuzzFail, I don’t see a problem with this. I really don’t care if you park your handbag or shopping bag on an unused seat, as it is an unused seat. The asshole in you only start showing if you refuse to give your spare seat up if someone needs it. So please, let our balls breathe and drop the hypocrisy. If your issue with this was really about taking up extra space, you seriously overshot.