They could have just left the woman in the seat and glared at her. Isn't that how cultures enforce traditions that can't really be rules or laws?
They are welcome to their beliefs and traditions and I respect the desire for personal space, especially in a gigantic city. But inviting others to use their space with no indication that they have rules they will force on others rather than traditions they ask others to respect is problematic. I have a feeling that if they hadn't been dicks about it the custom would just seem curious rather than sinister.
I recall that when I rode the school bus, the back of the bus was the preferred spot. You didn't have everyone brushing past you all the time (and you were further from the driver/authority figure). While bus segregation has a nasty history, the status or convenience of front vs. back is in part cultural as well as a matter of convenience. I still think there must be better solutions to the issue than front/back segregation or hysterics about the segregation, but every single possible solution is going to have drawbacks. Then again, boy/girl cooties aren't real and so it's an issue of preference rather than safety. This isn't an easy, open-and-shut issue in my mind, but luckily it's one of the less vital issues in the world today and not even one of the most important issues in that neighborhood, I imagine.
They are welcome to their beliefs and traditions and I respect the desire for personal space, especially in a gigantic city. But inviting others to use their space with no indication that they have rules they will force on others rather than traditions they ask others to respect is problematic. I have a feeling that if they hadn't been dicks about it the custom would just seem curious rather than sinister.
I recall that when I rode the school bus, the back of the bus was the preferred spot. You didn't have everyone brushing past you all the time (and you were further from the driver/authority figure). While bus segregation has a nasty history, the status or convenience of front vs. back is in part cultural as well as a matter of convenience. I still think there must be better solutions to the issue than front/back segregation or hysterics about the segregation, but every single possible solution is going to have drawbacks. Then again, boy/girl cooties aren't real and so it's an issue of preference rather than safety. This isn't an easy, open-and-shut issue in my mind, but luckily it's one of the less vital issues in the world today and not even one of the most important issues in that neighborhood, I imagine.