How a Man Crosses His Legs

When he sits without a table, what a man does with his legs can broadcast a lot about who he is or nothing much at all. This is a topic I always thought of only in extremes. If a man tightly crosses one knee over the other and then lets the leg on top dance … well, he is probably not a man you want to have your back in a fight. But then, who really knows?

At least I thought this until I noticed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s extreme leg cross. Maybe he thinks he is showing off his flexibility. He is tall and athletic. But men who wear hardhats would probably mock his girly posture—it is feminine. If he tried it in a boxing gym, he’d better be able to move like Gentleman Jim. It does not look manly.

A man more appropriately puts an ankle up on a knee if he can. If not—don’t even try to imagine Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker crossing his legs one way or another—he’ll more likely “man spread.” I hate this term, as large women do it too and, anyway, men of a certain size can’t do anything else.

Adam Coralla, the comedian and radio host, recently said on Bill Maher’s podcast that a man who crosses his legs too deeply, as Newsom and former President Barack Obama often do, are somehow broadcasting their politics. I find this hard to believe, as I know several conservative old men—NRA members and outdoorsman all of them—who almost do an inverse split when they cross their legs. To me, they look like kids trying to hold it in until they get permission to go to the bathroom, but I would not say that to them. They are tough old men who have served their country and who know how to throw a straight right hand.