The Funniest News Stories That 2018 Produced

Published December 24, 2018
Updated March 21, 2019

Russian Student Activist Poured Bleach On “Manspreaders” In Public Transit

Russia Manspreading

Anna Dovgalyuk/east2west newsShe has allegedly demonstrated against 70 men.

An activist in Russia is combating the public transportation plague known as “manspreading” by pouring a bleach-and-water mixture onto men’s crotches.

“Manspreading” refers to the instance of a man sitting with his legs set widely apart. It is considered problematic when in public as it can not only take up more space than necessary but has also been considered a symbol of masculine aggression.

20-year-old Anna Dovgalyuk, a law student, has balked against this by pouring a bleach mixture on men taking St. Petersburg public transit. She claims that her actions are “on behalf of everyone who has to endure the manifestations of [men] declaring [their] macho qualities on public transportation.”

She says that men’s unchecked “gender aggression” is a huge issue and that she’s decided to tackle it herself with this demonstration.

Dovgalyuk posted a video titled “Spread your legs? Here you go” on YouTube, in which she has dedicated “for whom manspreading is the norm.” It has since been removed for “violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDr0CyB54Uc

She claims the mixture is “30 times more concentrated than the mixture used by housewives when doing the laundry” and has since exposed about 70 unsuspecting male passengers to it. Dovgalyuk says that her bleach “eats colors in the fabric in a matter of minutes, leaving indelible stains.” These stains act as “identification spots. So everyone can immediately understand which body part controls the behavior of these men.”

According to Fox News, the video received 1.3 million views after being posted for only one day.

Russian news outlet Rosbalt alleged that Dovgalyuk’s video was fake and that the men she poured the bleach on are paid actors, but she insisted that what viewers saw in the funny news video was absolutely real.

author
Bernadette Deron
author
Bernadette Deron is a digital media producer and writer from New York City who holds a Master's in publishing from New York University. Her work has appeared in Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Insider.
editor
Adam Farley
editor
Adam Farley is an Assistant Editor at All That's Interesting. He was previously content director of ShamrockGift.com and deputy editor of Irish America magazine. He holds an M.A. from New York University and a B.A. from the University of Washington.