Cool project. This problem takes other forms, of course, e.g., “Hey, cheer up, it’s a beautiful day!”
It’s another one of those lose/lose situations. Smile, and you’ve just added another microaggression to your own personal camel’s back. Don’t, and get called a bitch.
My default is to look them straight in the eye and tell them my parents died last night. And just keep staring until they leave, apologize or I finally discover I really can set people on fire with my brain, which is a life long dream of mine.
(Edit: My parents haven’t died yet, but I’m pretty sure they’d approve of me using it to shame jerks)
I guess I missed the part where she obtains permission from the property owners to wheatpaste their buildings. Oh, but hey, it’s art!
I guess I missed the part where she obtains permission from the property owners to wheatpaste their buildings. Oh, but hey, it’s art!
A friend of mine was interviewing for a principal position years ago. I asked her how the interview with the Board went and she seethed that the first thing a board member said to her is that she would look nicer if she smiled. What is it with men telling women to smile?
I think a lot of them who do that are at some level afraid. Telling a woman to smile makes her seem less threatening. And at any rate, weaker.
You don’t have to ask them if they mind, just enjoy the privilege of hearing their voice when you call them. Not all of us have that privilege.
I am not making this up or belittling this very true observation. But I do sometimes go up to my guy friends and ask them to Glower. Could that be an unconscious reaction to how creepy it is for strange men to ask for smiles?
France.
Seriously, French women do not smile at you unless they mean to. It freaks out some US visitors - but if you are polite and friendly towards waiters and shop staff and they smile at you, it isn’t an empty gesture.
Hey, cheer up, it’s a beautiful day! 
Not sure, though I do think that elevating this tactic to full consciousness and then strategically deploying it (say, right after another clueless man tells a woman to smile) would in turn elevate your status to One of the Good Guys.
Great project. The sketches are incredibly powerful. They radiate this combination of strength and vulnerability.
That’s because they’re portraits of humans not smiling. I think the words detract, but it’s not the side of my building to say.
(I simply aspire to not be One of The Creeps)
Cool beans, at least you’re on the right track.
What is the source for this wonderful gif?
Um, Antarctica?
I actually laughed out loud 
