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So, Resting Bitch Face is a real thing, according to scientists


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So according to this CNN article, scientists have discovered that "Resting Bitch Face" is a real thing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/03/health/resting-bitch-face-research-irpt/

If people are constantly telling you to smile a bit more, or often ask you what's wrong or whether you are angry about something, you probably have Resting Bitch Face.

And interestingly, although it is mostly a female phenomenon (with celebrities such as Kristen Stewart, Anna Kendrick, Victoria Beckham and the Queen listed as examples of sufferers), one of the few male celebrities with this condition is apparently Kanye West.

The wonders of science.

 

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1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

Is it just me, or does that study tell us literally nothing? All it's done is got a computer to do the exact same thing we do when we think someone's looking grumpy.

Can't comment on that. Merely reporting the news and quietly sniggering at the official name of the "condition".

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1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

Is it just me, or does that study tell us literally nothing? All it's done is got a computer to do the exact same thing we do when we think someone's looking grumpy.

Just another reason to call girls bitches for not looking all pleasant and pretty and friendly at all times. Some peoples natural resting face just looks more like a scowl or a mild frown than a grin. How terrible! 

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3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Is it just me, or does that study tell us literally nothing? All it's done is got a computer to do the exact same thing we do when we think someone's looking grumpy.

It tells us, or rather serves as a timely reminder of what we already knew, that 'science' is rarely if ever objective and that scientists always bring their own values into their studies. The headline should be "Male scientists display latent sexism, make value statements about women's faces and declare it science".

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4 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Just another reason to call girls bitches for not looking all pleasant and pretty and friendly at all times. Some peoples natural resting face just looks more like a scowl or a mild frown than a grin. How terrible! 

Yup, pretty much.  

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4 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Just another reason to call girls bitches for not looking all pleasant and pretty and friendly at all times. Some peoples natural resting face just looks more like a scowl or a mild frown than a grin. How terrible! 

I do agree with you.  My first reaction to seeing this topic was to question why it always seemed to be directed at women - like we ALWAYS must be pleasant appearing.  Well, to hell with that.

Then my second thought was to remember this one girl on a show I've watched.

db02a670-26cc-0133-097b-0e76e5725d9d.gif

She WAs kind of a bitch too. 

Maybe we should start a movement to introduce "Resting prick-face" to make it even. :P 

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12 minutes ago, Tears of Lys said:

Maybe we should start a movement to introduce "Resting prick-face" to make it even. :P 

I've definitely got a serious case of this. People always think I'm mad when I'm not. It's annoying. 

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Have pretty much the polar opposite of this, people are constantly asking me - "Why are you so happy?"  Am usually caught off guard by how to answer that question as well. It's usually asked in a tone like there's something odd with being happy. I think happy seems to be my default mood and i'm pretty good with that currently.

 

Happiness #3. "What if happiness was our default position?" ... The President asks his Communications Director, "What are you so happy about?" and Toby
 
As for the topic, Lucy Liu does fabulous bitch face.
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5 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Just another reason to call girls bitches for not looking all pleasant and pretty and friendly at all times. Some peoples natural resting face just looks more like a scowl or a mild frown than a grin. How terrible! 

The women I know seem to take pride in having a "resting bitch face." As in, they'll share photo's on facebook and social media pertaining to this and caption it with something like "this is so me", or something along those lines. My own girlfriend calls her own face a resting bitch face.

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One of the researchers here was a woman, so it wasn't just "male scientists" who did this.

However, the problem here is that there is no evidence presented that this facial expression is actually more common among women than men. They say more famous women are "touted" to have it, but that definitely could be a result of prejudice affecting judgments. We need research that compares random samples of photos of men and women in the same situations to make any judgment about gender differences.

And even IF it would be found this expression is more common among women (something I myself doubt), to use the term "Resting Bitch Face" is sexist and unprofessional. "Neutral Unpleasant" or some similar phrase should be used as a term if you want to study this scientifically. The fact that murder is much more commonly committed by men than women should not lead us to call it "fatal macho assault". "RBF" is not a term scientists should be promoting.

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Pretty much 100% with Ormond on this one.  I'd more than a little sceptical that it's more common in women, I think it's just that it's seen as acceptable or not noteworthy in men so it doesn't get noticed, and using that particular name is absolutely sexist.

Personally I like to have hostile in the name there somewhere, I've got an aura of hostility that mostly deters people from talking to me and I love it - I assume my resting facial expression has something to do with it.

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3 hours ago, Ormond said:

One of the researchers here was a woman, so it wasn't just "male scientists" who did this.

However, the problem here is that there is no evidence presented that this facial expression is actually more common among women than men. They say more famous women are "touted" to have it, but that definitely could be a result of prejudice affecting judgments. We need research that compares random samples of photos of men and women in the same situations to make any judgment about gender differences.

And even IF it would be found this expression is more common among women (something I myself doubt), to use the term "Resting Bitch Face" is sexist and unprofessional. "Neutral Unpleasant" or some similar phrase should be used as a term if you want to study this scientifically. The fact that murder is much more commonly committed by men than women should not lead us to call it "fatal macho assault". "RBF" is not a term scientists should be promoting.

My main takeaway from this is that "fatal macho assault" would be an awesome colloquial term for murder. Which might be a bad thing.

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