Rant of the Day: Men. Why is it, no matter what the size of the man, he always has to take up so much damn space? The brilliant minds at the LIRR have commissioned new trains that were based upon a Japanese model, and as a result, the space on our crowded trains is now even skimpier than before. Great. Add to that, every time a man sits down next to me on one of these trains, he has to sit with his legs spread out, with his elbows jutting out and into my sides, to the point at which I am forced to cross my legs together, push my arms forward to make more room, basically curl myself into as small a package as I possibly can to compensate for the extra space the man commands. Doesn't matter the size of the man (although, of course it becomes more of an issue with a bigger one). I rarely have this problem when a woman sits next to me on the train, even with women who are not exactly svelte. Why as a woman am I forced to make myself smaller, because a man demands a lion's share of space? If I were clever, I could talk about how this is some kind of metaphor for women's position in society (and particularly the work-force, since we ARE talking about a commuter train here) but I'm just not that clever.