The whole manspreading thing is about space and respecting space for others.

Is it a political issue? No, but feminism must tackle both political issues and social ones to make needed changes toward egalitarianism. After all, the oppression of women doesn’t occur just politically. It occurs socially, economically, and spiritually too.

The whole conservative response about honor killings and forced marriages is a bait and switch for two reasons.

One, you can’t force change to a different people with a different culture and expect it to hold. And that would be oppressive. That society and culture has to change itself. Look at Afghanistan. What did it take, 9 hours for women to be run out of universities?

The reality is, the best that can be done for them is support. But they’re the ones who are going to have to fight that fight. They have to change the minds of the men they share a culture with by whatever means they have at their disposal. You can support women of Afghanistan best right now by helping them get an education. Scholarships for online learning are popping up. Find one and contribute, or create your own.

Secondly, even if you could it would be ineffective. You confront oppression and bias at ground level, where you live, when and where you see, when and where you have the ability to do so. That’s going to look different for different people and that’s fine. The work is broad, there are big challenges and there are small challenges. Who’s to say one has to be accomplished before another? What kind of crazy is that? Why is it one or the other any way? Why not tackle both, at the same time?

Beware criticisms of feminism coming from men. It’s usually reductive, illogical, overly emotional, and asks the wrong questions.