Movie theater ettiquette

[Thrillhouse]

Okay, I went to the movies with a couple of my roomates. I was the first to walk into a row to sit down. I sit down and both of my roomates sit with an empty seat in between me and each other. The arrangement looked like this:

me-emptyseat-roomate#1-empty seat-roomate#2

I have noticed this before by watching other people, but it only happens with guys. I have an idea why this occurs, but I am curious if any of you have ever seen anything like this before? I could care less if my friends sit next to me.

[newbie]

Wow, that's intersting. If me and my girlfriends go out to the theater, then we all sit together (next to each other). Even on big group dates, we all sit next to each other (usually it's guy-girl-guy-girl-guy-girl, etc.). But then again, the group dates I usually go on are all with friends.

have no idea about the thing you mentioned...though it seems that guys love to stretch and have space of their own in genneral. but i've never seen that .


[This message has been edited by newbie (edited June 23, 2001).]

[lindsay_iu]

I've noticed the same thing at the movies. Girls never do that, it's just the boys. I think that it might have something to do with their "manliness." hehe. It just might be a subconscious thing that some guys do to prevent themselves from seeming gay. That's really the only thing that I can think of. By sitting directly next to another guy, someone might perceive them to be a couple? I don't know, that's a pretty far-fetched idea but guys just do weird things.

[newbie]

Originally posted by lindsay_iu:
but guys just do weird things.

Agreed!!! Maybe it's also b/c guys are naturally territorial?

[This message has been edited by newbie (edited June 23, 2001).]

[CRMSNTiDEGRL717]

Guys definately always want A LOT of personal space. And i tend to think that some guys are kind of homophobic. it's not that they have anything against gays (in my experience) it's just that they are NOT gay, and God forbid they give someone that impression. i think that's some guys ways of combatting those gay impressions. i could be TOTALLY wrong though

[GmuTeke]

Congratulations, you ladies broke the code. It's all part of the "Heterosexual Man Game" that all us guys play to some degree or another. That's but one manifestation of it. I took a sociology class and we discussed stuff like this, there are a ton of examples once you start looking for them.

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No funny squiggles, just bold letters: TKE

[CRMSNTiDEGRL717]

Originally posted by GmuTeke:
Congratulations, you ladies broke the code. It's all part of the "Heterosexual Man Game" that all us guys play to some degree or another. That's but one manifestation of it. I took a sociology class and we discussed stuff like this, there are a ton of examples once you start looking for them.

LOL, GmuTeke. thats funny, i thought i had it figured it out what other things do ya'll do????? curiosity is killing me. C'mon, GmuTeke, SPILL THE BEANS!!!!

[SilverTurtle]

I've never seen girls do that at movies.. and rarely I've seen guys do it. But I think everyone's right with the homosexual thing.

Originally posted by GmuTeke:
Congratulations, you ladies broke the code. It's all part of the "Heterosexual Man Game" that all us guys play to some degree or another. That's but one manifestation of it. I took a sociology class and we discussed stuff like this, there are a ton of examples once you start looking for them.

LOL I used to have some guy friends that would joke about when guys hug. (Which is rare anyways). They always pat each other on the back, often 3 times. They said it was the "I'm not gay" hug. (So each time they pat each other, it's like I'm-not-gay).

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SilverTurtle

Phi Beta Fraternity: National Professional Association for the Creative & Performing Arts

[This message has been edited by SilverTurtle (edited June 23, 2001).]

[carnation]

My husband took his eighth-graders to Disney World a few years back. They had these comfortable, majorly huge queen-sized beds in the room and every guy could've had plenty of room if 2 had shared each bed---but nooooo! Half the boys insisted on sleeping on the hard floor every night because they didn't want to look, and I quote here, like "gayfers".

[Lil_G]

I don't know if I agree about the whole sexual-orientation theory. I think us guys just like more space than you ladies. For example, guys never go to the bathroom together.

[GeoffZ]

Going back to the hug thing. If you've noticed whenever we guys do hug we usually shake hands first. As we go into the hug we still maintain the handshake, which puts our arms between our bodies. That prevents a "full-body-contact hug", which looks more manly and less gay. It's kinda ridiculous if you think about it. But, you could also reason that some guys just need alot of space and aren't homophobic.

[LeslieAGD]

GeoffZ...that's the "half hug"

[Chief]

It's the same principle that explains why guys don't use urinals right next to each other, but always leave one unoccupied urinal in between. We just don't feel the need to get that "close."

[Corbin Dallas]

Personally, I just like having 2 arm rests at the theater... I think it is a subconcious homophobic thing to, like it's already been explained. I was going to post about the urinals too, gotta have the buffer! I don't know why, but i can't go if there's someone at the urinal next to me, unless it's someone i know really well, but not that well . It's not that i'm afraid to or whatever, it just won't happen. it's wierd, and can be a pain, esp. when you really have to go.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

[LeslieAGD]

Ok, since we're talking about movie theater seating...I went to see Shrek yesterday and most of the theater is empty and three separate groups of people come over and sit right near us. What Gives??? That is just plain rude!

[This message has been edited by LeslieAGD (edited June 25, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by LeslieAGD (edited June 25, 2001).]