I didn’t have to sit with my legs agape, verging on the vulgar, like most of the men I saw demanding space. Crossing one’s legs wasn’t just for women. I’d like to think I was only replicating the men I’d seen in those images. But in the 1980s, as I made it to high school, I realized I wasn’t trying to be regal. I was crossing my legs because I was trying to shrink, trying to be less of a presence than my tall, lanky, yet graceful (see: effeminate) body demanded.

Source: New York Times December 13, 2018 15:40 UTC