Manspreading Makes Men More Attractive, Said No One Except These Researchers

Read: Men Eat Disgusting Amounts of Food Because They Want to Have Sex with You, Ladies

Manspreading can get you arrested on a New York City train, but a few researchers out of California have found that men who lack a sense of personal space are also seen as more attractive.

Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, led a two-part study on how posture affects romantic interest online and in person. Her team looked at videos of speed dates and dating app profile photos and found both men and women were rated more romantically desirable when they needlessly stretched out their legs and arms.

"Expansive posture" was particularly effective for men in the study—87 percent of men who scored second dates were "spreaders."

The researchers say perceived "openness" and "dominance" were what drove men and women to like potential mates who take up more space than everyone else. Spreading predicted attractiveness better than smiling or laughing.

Thankfully not everyone in the academic world is recommending manspreading as a winning pickup routine. University of Notre Dame anthropology professor Agustin Fuentes told the Atlantic today he thought the connection was "superficial" at best.

It's also worth noting the findings were "nonverbal" and "at zero acquaintance." In other words, these extra-seat-takers weren't tested on their winning personalities.

Since almost no woman would ever agree with these findings, let's pray "manspreading" doesn't take up any more space in the internet hype cycle.

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