Others pointed out that the onus shouldn’t be put on the woman next to him to tell him he’s encroaching on her space — he should simply be respectful enough not to do it in the first place:
“By wanting the woman to tell you if she is bothered by your invasion of her space, you make it her responsibility instead of just not doing it. Women can feel too vulnerable to confront a tall guy (your own admission) by themselves, especially when they are stuck at the window seat and cannot exit if the guy gets angry. She didn’t call the attendant to tell you to move, she called her to have an authority figure to help her make a point.”
—u/Ryuloulou
“I’m a small woman, and men on plane flights CONSTANTLY shove their knees into my personal space, even when they have enough room to sit with their legs together. It’s exhausting having to try to figure out if I should bother asking them to move, especially because I dislike conflict, and sometimes, they either get mad (and then I’m stuck sitting next to an angry person much larger than me for hours), or else fake an apology and then go back to doing it 10 minutes later.
If you physically can’t fit into your space, I’m not going to get mad (yeah, maybe you should book a larger seat, but I don’t know what your financial situation is or why you need to fly), but if you are able to fit, even if it’s less comfortable, keep your goddamn body parts to yourself and don’t put me in the position of having to ask for basic personal space.”
—u/colourscaptivating
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/shelbyheinrich/reddit-man-manspreading-flight
