Resting bitch face

In my day it was commonly known as the ‘Cheer up, love; it might never happen!’ phenomenon. People (men) shouted this out to me all the time when I was a teenager. I was told that the correct retort to this should be - ‘It already has [happened] - to your mother!’ But I grew up in a rough area, to have uttered this response would have been tantamount to suicide. Anyway, it was generally considered that my face, in repose, looked a bit unfriendly and forbidding. Even a dear friend of mine said to me once; ‘You can look a bit fierce!’

This is a picture of me, feeding the sheep at a petting farm:

I didn't include it when I put the pictures of our farm visit on Facebook because I seem to be wearing a rather ferocious looking scowl. (And yet I've put it on here! It's almost as if I don't expect anyone to read this blog!) The truth of it is that I was nervous. I was trying to demonstrate to my children that there was nothing to be scared of; that the animals were quite gentle and harmless, but I was worried that I was going to get bitten myself! (Yes, I know sheep aren't thought of as being particularly dangerous but they have got quite big teeth....) This picture makes me want to get a botox injection and it also makes me aware of why I often find myself standing alone at conferences - I don’t look very approachable.

‘Resting bitch face’ is defined thus by the Urban dictionary:

resting bitch face. a person, usually a girl, who naturally looks mean when her face is expressionless, without meaning to. Nah, she's just got a resting bitch face, ...

‘Usually a girl’!! At least ‘Cheer up, it might never happen!’ isn't confined to the female sex, in fact, I'm pretty sure my spouse has had it said to him on occasion (we’re a very cheery-looking couple!). R.B.F - as I'm now going to refer to it as, is an American import but when I first saw the meme, floating around social media, it could have been talking directly about me.

Apparently, I'm not alone; this article from the Washington Post, identifies the Queen, actresses Kristen Stewart and Anna Kendrick and arch scowler, Kayne West, as being prone to RBF.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/02/02/scientists-have-discovered-the-source-of-your-resting-bitch-face/

What it also states is that, although some software has ascertained that men are just as likely as women to have RBF, it is perceived as being a mainly female phenomenon! The reason for this, the article concludes, is that women are more likely than men to put a 'brave face on things' or expected to be happy and smiling! So, quite without realising it, I have actually been presenting a kind of feminist protest, with my miserable-looking visage. Every cloud has a sliver lining, right?

I'll leave you with a picture of me glaring at my book, mainly because it has my daughter as a squidgy 4 month old in it, resting on my legs.

Although this whole post could be seen to be incredibly narcissistic - me, me me; look at me and my miserable face, at least I could be seen to be showing a refreshing lack of vanity in sharing these hideously unflattering pictures!