Women’s pouting faces

I am a regular guest on a TV network Channel A’s talk show titled "Straightforward Talk Show." The show host Kim Jin often motions me to smile while shooting the show. In the beginning, I was annoyed by the motion and had a thought like ‘I am not an entertainer. Why does he want me to smile during the show?’ But after seeing the show on TV, I came to know why he kept asking me to smile. The male guests made natural smiles throughout the show. But I looked tired and mean. Since then, I started making a big wide grin while shooting the TV show.

I was not the only one who looks angry when not smiling. The American daily New York Times reported in its recent article that many celebrities suffer from the scourge known as “resting bitch face” or, increasingly, just RBF. Hollywood actress Anna Kendrick who starred in the movie ‘Pitch Perfect’ said during a show on CBS, “Is there a filter on Instagram that fixes Bitchy Resting Face?”

It is not only for celebrities. Many would understand this when they shoot a selfie. Without making an exaggerated grin or pushing out lips in front of the cell phone camera, your face would look weird and mad. RBF is more common for Asians than Westerners, for women than men, and for the middle-aged than the youth. Koreans have high cheekbones and strong jaws, which makes their mouths curled slightly downward. Without putting on an exaggerated smile, most of Koreans look mad or sometimes spaced out.

RBF is a newly-coined word by netizens. But New York Times analyzed that the term is based on a notion that looks down women. According to the article, it simply the default when a man looks stern or grumpy. But people expect women to put on a smile and if women don’t, it’s deemed ‘bitchy.’ As a person who consciously makes a friendly smile, I totally agree with the New York Times’ article. Even though, it is good to put on a smile. Smiling stretches face muscles out, which makes a face look younger and skin tones brighter. A quote says that we smile not because we are happy, but we are happy because we smile. Ladies, let’s smile more and be happy more.