The second time, I sat down next to a woman who was sitting alone. The woman turned and looked directly at me and furrowed her brow just a bit as she was turning away. I could hear her sigh as she shifted over dramatically as if to avoid being too close. She was reading a book and listening to headphones. Although she glared at me at first, she refused to look up until her stop came, at which point she stood up. I decided to take the experiment one step further, by looking directly at her and smiling before getting up to let her out.
The results of the experiment were mostly what I expected, except I did not predict such a nonchalant reaction from the man. The woman acted as predicted: she grew noticeably uncomfortable almost to the point where I believed she might have moved away from me if she had not already been sitting there. I expect that some women might have even ventured to ask me why...
Women are typically more vulnerable in most societies: more likely to be threatened by strangers and are especially on guard when by themselves at night in a public space like a bus. I can imagine the great discomfort my action must have caused the woman, who was suspicious as to why I selected that seat over the others even though I did not speak to her at all. With the man, it is possible that he was used to having his personal space violated on public transportation and did not feel overly threatened by me. He might have felt uncomfortable but did not act uncomfortable as the woman did. I learned that issues related to personal space are in fact inked to gender.
