U.K.-based writer Brydie Lee-Kennedy’s tweet about an uncomfortable situation she had traveling on a bus while eight months pregnant recently went viral, garnering nearly 18,000 likes and over 1,500 retweets.
It seems Lee-Kennedy had had just about enough of one rude man who refused her request to move his hand and bag off the seat near him to allow her to sit.
What followed is the stuff of pregnant woman daydreams:
Well it finally happened in my 8th month of pregnancy, I just sat on a man’s hand and bag when he wouldn’t move them off the last spare seat on the bus. We’re now sharing a very quiet ride.
— The Sun Is Bad, Actually (@BrydieLK) September 4, 2018
She followed it up with a tweet likening travel by public transit while with child to The Hunger Games…
I wonder what it’s like to live somewhere with a less Hunger Games spirit on public transport
— The Sun Is Bad, Actually (@BrydieLK) September 4, 2018
Lee-Kennedy’s story resonated with women from all over the world, who were soon sharing their own anecdotes about this very particular lack of courtesy for the soon-to-be-mothers of this world and their own examples of what the appropriate course of action in the face of such blatant rudeness might be.
Warning: There appears to be a disproportionate number of male offenders:
Haha when I was pregs I asked a manspreader if I could share his bench seat on the bus and he gestured to his wide legs and said, “No.”
Like, “Sorry, my balls need that space.”
— Bridget Neval (@bridgetneval) September 5, 2018
When I was about 4 months pregnant I asked a man if I could have his seat on the train and I felt really sick as I was pregnant. He said ‘well, you want equality, you can stand’ I threw up on him. And his newspaper. And his laptop bag. The look of shock on his face was gratifying
— that pebbles (@LadyBrienne1) September 4, 2018
Many years ago I got on a bus w. new baby in papoose, & 6 heavy carrier bags. No seats so I stayed standing. The bus drove 50yds & stopped, the driver stood up & shouted ‘is no one going to offer this lady with a baby a seat?!’. An elderly woman stood. All the men remained seated
— Prof Liz Atkins (@drlizatkins) September 5, 2018
When I was 8months pregnant (15 years ago) a man on a packed tube asked me to move so he could sit next to his friend. I suspect my glare still gives him nightmares…. and my choice words ring in his ears!
— Lisa Breuer (@LisaBreuer1) September 4, 2018
And tall tales of witnessing heroic acts of seat-less-ness:
I was on the tube with my best mate once when a very very pregnant woman got on. No one got up. Not even the nun closest (who obviously pretended not to notice the woman), my friend, sitting next to the nun, got up instead
— Alice Porter (@Alice_Porter) September 5, 2018
I saw a guy do the same on a tube train. He couldn’t have looked more intimidating if he tried (think angry Hell’s Angel). He saw no one move for a very pregnant woman & bellowed down the carriage (which one of you a-holes is gonna let her sit) & at least half a dozen jumped up.
— Kelvin Rodrigues (@KelvinROfficial) September 5, 2018
Sitting on a packed LUAS, 4 mths pg. A heavily pregnant woman got on. No one offered her a seat. My stop was next. As I stood I could see men eyeing up my seat and the pg woman looking resigned. I called out: this seat is for you. Dirty looks from men, grateful smile from woman.
— Pat Neville (@PatNiNiadh) September 5, 2018
When I don’t have a seat to give up I’ve asked others to give theirs up for pregnant women too polite to ask I’ve found women will offer most but some men are genuinely oblivious (perhaps it’s a gender-conditioned lack of empathy?) & apologetic when I point it out.
— Katalina Watt (@KatalinaWatt) September 5, 2018
Get ’em girls! And as for you jerks? Stand up already.
