Interesting topic.
I can not recall being told to smile, not as an adult, nor do I recall telling people to smile. So this, from my perspective seems to be much ado about nothing. Others clearly have had different experiences.
People don't tend to say, "Hey, wipe that smile off your face and give me your best scowl!"
People are very good at reading facial expressions and body language. In most cases, people can detect the differences between a true smile and a forced one. Same with frowns, or other emotions conveyed through the face. Only neutrality can be easily faked, because it is the utter lack of muscle tension.
Anyway, Torn, your thread has kinda' blown my mind. It is almost impossible to read your first post, without then glancing at your avatar pic. You are clearly not smiling. Thinking back, I can't remember you smiling in any avatar pic.
Bear with me here, it may take a while for my point to be made clear.
So yeah, Torn, the expression made in your avatar, it is not a smile, it is not neutral, it seems, for lack of a better term, angry. It is kind of odd what an avatar can convey. When I see you make a post, your avatar alone leaves me thinking, before I even read what you have written, that you are not going to like what you are replying to. That you are having a bad day. A part of me is intimidated and wants to stay away from you.
But then you made this thread and I thought, what if Bruce Willis was making the same sort of expression on a movie poster? He would be seen as powerful, motivated and ready to take action.
So, again, I can not remember telling a woman to smile, and yet, I guess I often enough, jump to conclusions when they don't.
Thank you Torn, for this most enlightening of threads. I now see your avatar in a new light. More power to you!
