Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
A German Feminist Photographer Exhaustively Documented Manspreading In The '70s
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 13, 2017
Modified Feb 13, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 13, 2017
Modified Feb 13, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Last year, there were several reports that sought to examine the circumstances around and reasons why men casually hog space in public settings (particularly on the subway). But these were far from the first studies of the manspreading phenomenon—the most exhaustive one may have come in the 1970s, long before anyone had even coined the term "manspread."
As Pacific Standard Magazine uncovered, German feminist photographer Marianne Wex published Let’s Take Back Our Space: Female and Male Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures in 1979, which examines the body language of men and women through the prism of gender and the subconscious to understand the unequal treatment of women. The book is organized around nearly 5,000 photos, which includes advertisements, reportage, fashion magazines, studio portraits, the history of art, and photos that Wex herself took of people between 1972 and 1977.
As David Campany explained, Wex proposed that "our smallest, most unconscious gestures speak volumes about the power relations of gender in daily life." He added that though the project cannot be considered a scientific study, it is instead "an intervention, and its claims to authority come less from the presentation of facts than from the flashes of recognition we may have in response to what she presents. Decades on, it’s impossible not to see aspects of ourselves and of present society in these images."
Randomly, you can peruse the entire book on YouTube below.
You can also revisit our own confrontations with manspreaders below.
Tagged
manspreading
marianne wex
subway
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Published Oct 8, 2026
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
By
Alec Hamilton
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .