Woman shouts at boyfriend for 'manspreading' in the car, 'chill, woman!' AITA?
"AITA for shouting at my boyfriend for 'manspreading' in the car?"
My (23f) boyfriend (23m) was visiting my family for new years, we had a nice time. I was staying with my family for a few more days, and he was going to see his family, as he doesn’t drive I drove him home.
Because we live within walking distance of each other and town I’ve never driven him anywhere before. I drive a smallish car with a stick, so when we got in in I politely asked him to keep out of the way of the stick so I could drive safely.
He’s not much taller than me and his seat was all the way back so there was more than enough room for his legs. 10 mins into the drive he spreads out and I struggled to change gears so I said “please move your legs," he did.
Then spread out again, the road was long and I didn’t need to change gears so i just said to him that he might need to move his legs soon. Then we went down a narrow road with cars parked on the side, I slowed down as much as I could without changing gear (I wasn’t going fast, only 30mph ish), and then suddenly the car in front of me stopped.
I wasn’t expecting this so I practically did an emergency stop, at this my boyfriend said “Chill, Woman!” As I was at a stop I needed to change gears so I shouted “stop f--g manspreading, let me get to my gears, and you can criticize my driving when your license is pink."
He said the woman in the car in front is who he was talking about, but there was no way he could know the driver in front was female. He was then really upset with me, and I felt bad for blowing up, so we drove in silence for the rest of the ride. And he’s been barely texting me since.
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
TipsyBaker_ said:
I come from a family of giants. None of them need so much space that their legs are hitting the gear shift. He wasn't doing that for necessary comfort. He was doing it on purpose. It was stupid and dangerous and not at all acceptable.
He was also yelling at you but tried to cover when you called him on it. Don't call for his nonsense. NTA but stop blaming yourself for getting upset at this guy who is endangering your lives for no reason.
AnonAnontheAnony said:
NTA - I'm all for fighting against rediculous things like people getting offended at manspreading, BUT...this was a dangerous situation, when he's hitting the gear shifter with his knee, that's not ok. He needs to keep his knees away from the stickshift.
EwwDavvidd said:
NTA. He should know better than to interfere with a driver and the gear shift and to keep his legs out of the way.
SubstantialMaize6747 said:
NTA. Most people only have to be asked once to move out of the way and will then be able to stay out of the way for the rest of the trip. It’s ridiculous to spread out and impinge your driving.
moonchild0001 said:
NTA - to put it simply this is a serious situation which could have ended in people getting hurt due to your boyfriend’s actions. and i absolutely do not believe he was talking about the woman in the other car.
_TiberiusPrime_ said:
NTA. Either he's totally oblivious or he's an idiot. You choose.
Prestigious_Carry942 said:
NTA. I went through the same thing with a boyfriend when I was young, and I was tempted to pull over and tell him to get out of the car. 50 miles from home.