It's true that there are gender norms about sitting with your legs apart.
I can also believe it's true that personal space is more guarded amongst men. Both male-male and male-female touch is quite fraught socially, whilst female-female touch seems to be relatively relaxed.
So, all in all, the idea that 'men take up more space' seems true to the extent of 'sitting with your legs further apart', various body posture issues and perhaps spreading themselves more evenly across a room.
However, trying to claim more than one seat on a train is something that both sexes definitely do. The trick of sitting on an outside seat or putting your bag on a seat seems to be done as much if not more by women than men.
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I can also believe it's true that personal space is more guarded amongst men. Both male-male and male-female touch is quite fraught socially, whilst female-female touch seems to be relatively relaxed.
So, all in all, the idea that 'men take up more space' seems true to the extent of 'sitting with your legs further apart', various body posture issues and perhaps spreading themselves more evenly across a room.
However, trying to claim more than one seat on a train is something that both sexes definitely do. The trick of sitting on an outside seat or putting your bag on a seat seems to be done as much if not more by women than men.