I went to Leeds station and coffee shops from 10AM for a few hours until I got really cold sitting down for ages! I sat and watched people walk and sit - the station was good because it has a high turnover of people, so loads of people to observe and draw, and also a lot of people staying still waiting for trains!
I noticed a lot of men in suits, a classic signal of masculinity. These men were often portraying classic positions of power in their stance.
I also noticed a lot of 'man-spreading' - men taking up more space than they need. Showing off?
On the other hand, women tended to sit closed in on themselves, which was my starting hypothesis.
Obviously, there were anomalies - everyone's different and this is only one kind of theory about gender displayed in posture etc., but there are stereotypes for a reason.
However, as the day went on, I noticed another thing about men and women. Women tend to wear clothing that shows off the shapes of their legs - dresses and skirts (with or without tights), leggings and skinny genes. Again, obviously there are exceptions, like 'mom-jeans' are quite in fashion at the moment, and I noticed older women tended to have less shape revealing clothing on. Perhaps because their legs are no longer 'desirable' and sexual?
Legs have become an extended symbol of femininity, another factor women must embody in order to fit the standard classification of beauty.
An extension of this is wearing heels. Men don't, and the first stilettos were invented for women to supposedly make their legs look longer. To make them more appealing to men.
All of this trickles down from advertising - what's in fashion and what looks good and makes you attractive.
I did notice that some younger men also wear skinny jeans, but this is perhaps an exhibition of androgyny in fashion - that is, high fashion starting to become gender-free in a way, like one of the sources I looked at for my essay suggested. Although that was more for product advertising, it does apply to fashion too. Even so, most of the men I saw still wore trousers which concealed their leg shape. Men's legs are not deemed a part of their sexual attraction (more often than not), and so the fashion industry that then trickles down, does not deem leg-revealing trousers for men to be necessary.
The final thing I noticed today was another thing I kinda hypothesized - when men and women are talking, men take up more physical space. Obviously as a general rule, men are taller and bigger than women, but this is more about body language.
The women are closed in on themselves, kinda protective, nervous, submissive almost.
Men embody the classic masculine quality of the dominant one in the conversation and interaction through body language, whether they realise it or not.
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