Recently, a woman told me I have a Bitchy Resting Face, or BRF. She nonchalantly pointed this out after seeing my picture in the “I Am Not Trayvon Martin” article.
In return, I gave her this face.
Here’s the deal: I wasn’t offended because I didn’t own a mirror; I was offended because BRF is actually becoming a “thing.” As soon as the fake public safety announcement video went viral, hungry journalists wasted no time. Articles like this, this and this immediately identified celebrities that suffer from BRF. Anna Paquin even confessed to Jimmy Kimmel that she suffers from “a severe case of BRF.” She added, “It makes you look really angry all the time, like you want to kill people or like you’re a giant bitch.” Personally, the BRF trend amazes me, considering how the term originated from a YouTube skit. Everybody knows this, yet we still treat it like an actual phenomenon — or worse, a disorder.
Yep, you read that right. BRF is now officially a biological disorder that can be cured using corrective plastic surgeries. Plastic surgeon Anthony Youn told The Today Show, “Basically, many of us have features that we inherit and/or develop with age that can make us look unpleasant, grumpy or, even, yes — bitchy.” He recommended procedures like “grin lift” and Botox injection to turn that frown upside down.
It looks like our generation has found the new “cellulite” myth! (In case you didn’t know, “cellulite” was coined to lure women into condemning skin dimpling, which is otherwise a perfectly natural condition, like aging. In return, the cosmetics industry and plastic surgeons profited hugely once “cellulite” became a thing that must be corrected.)
Another thing that pisses me off is the reeking smell of sexism in BRF. Even though the original video was mostly geared toward women, it also mentioned the male version of BRF — Resting Asshole Face, or RAF. Yet, as expected, it is not RAF that gains traction in media. (I don’t see any actor publicly apologizing for his unfriendly facial expression.)
Why?
Because we have this double standard that makes a man look dangerously sexy when he scowls and a woman unattractively fierce. This is why RAF is not a disorder. Rather, it’s seen as a feature that augments a man’s sex appeal. Meanwhile, women are either bugged by busybodies on the streets — “Smile, honey!” — or tagged as a cold person.
Ann-Marie Stillion, a communication strategist and artist from Seattle, describes what she has to do to “fix” her BRF: “I smile a lot now, not because I’m so happy but because I know it makes people more comfortable.”
This kind of attitude made me push Robin Thicke aside to write about BRF instead. I mean, unless you’re a walking billboard for Crest 3D Whitestrips, I don’t see why anybody has to walk around with a fake smile on his or her face to appease other people. So, can’t we just please get through a week without feeling like the media is a sexist on Viagra?!