This article will examine the popular phenomenon known as the "duck face". For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, you're probably not even reading this article because every single person on the entire fucking internet has either heard of, or seen this term in action. But most articles/books say something along the lines of 'introduce your topic' somewhere in the always excessively-lengthy "How to write an article" section so let's jump through that hoop together, shall we?
What is "Duck Face"?
Much like a good piece of music, a nice homemade piece of fluffy angel-food cake with organic coconut flakes sprinkled on top, and great and/or terrible sex; the duck face cannot be described in words. So here's a pretty good example that Google provided as the fifth option when I searched "duck face" images:
I mean for real though, this girl is probably an ex girlfriend of mine when I had seventeen different girlfriends on myspace that I didn't actually know in person. Right now I'm into cryptocurrency, finance, and art; I wonder what this girl is into these days? You think she's a blockchain chick?
More realistically she changed her name from Xandra to Nancy and she works in accounting with her two kids, her heart-shaped barbed wire tattoo, and she probably doesn't even know what cryptocurrency is. Yeah, those kinds of people really exist.
All jokes aside though, wikipedia can provide a pretty good definition of the term:
Duck face is a photographic pose, which is well known on profile pictures in social networks. Lips are pressed together as in a pout and often with simultaneously sucked in cheeks. The pose is most often seen as an attempt to appear alluring, but also as a self-deprecating, ironic gesture making fun of the pose. Wikipedia
Now I don't want this article to be all about mocking the duck face and insulting those who use it. That's not what I'm about. This article will explain the psychology behind why the duck face is used by people in the first place. From a psychological perspective. Psychologically. Psycho-logic. Alley. I just made that up right now. But let's get on with it.
Psychology Behind "Duck Face"
Kissy Lips
The kissy lips are pretty much the most important part of the duck face. Whether this is done ironically or not does not matter for the purpose of this article. Because the psychology is basically the same. Psychologically.
The reason why girls use the kissy face for the duck face pose is because kissing is sexy. Boom done article finished. But nah, kissing is a very sexy act, and expressing a sexual act makes a person feel sexy, which is why it is used as the anchor of this look.
But here is the kicker. Usually the kissy lips, if intended ironically, are done over-the-top as a way of mocking the pose and making fun of it; but when the kissy lips are meant as a serious way of using the duck face look, most of the time it is only a partial kiss. Why only a partial kiss? Because there is only one thing related to kissing that is sexier than kissing, and that is the moment right before kissing.
The anticipating of kissing can sometimes feel more sexy than actual kissing. And that's exactly why girls only do a slight kiss or a half-kiss when doing the duck face in a serious way - without ironic intentions.
Like yeah sure bitcoin is great and all, but it's hardly ever the current price of bitcoin that's exciting, it's the anticipation of the higher price that gets those juices flowing.
Lil Scrunchy Fierce Face
The lil scrunchy fierce face is pretty unanimous with the kissy lips. God these terms sound ridiculous don't they hahahahahahalmostjustasridiculousasthewayduckfacelooks.
Squinting of the eyes, and a sort of tensing up of the nose towards the eyes characterizes the features of the scrunchy face. At least that's my half-assed definition of it, our boy wikipedia hasn't gotten on the lil scrunchy fierce face wagon yet unfortch.
The most significant aspect of the scrunchy face is the squinting of the eyes like someone is examining something, almost like my face every time I hear something promising 1% daily crypto gains. Fucking bitconnect. *squinty eyes*
With this sort of inquisitive expression, it signals that the individual is not only curious and able to discern the visible light-spectrum, but that they are interesting in something. If only my myspace girlfriends would have known about the lil scrunchy fierce face. Interest becomes sexual when it is directed with a feeling of sexuality from one person to another, like the expression above in the goddessly gorgeous Bella Hadid please marry me.
The lil scrunchy fierce face says that the subject is interested in their observer (in this case, the person looking at the photo) and they are expressing a certain kind of fierce examination of that observer. They are "sizing up" who they are looking at and almost balancing on the edge of scrutinizing them from a distance. This kind of behaviour and body-language can often inspire in men and others the desire to "rise to the occasion" because they feel like they are being evaluated on a deep level.
So in terms of the psychological reasoning behind this lil scrunchy face? It makes the girl feel sexy and powerful because she is expressing interest and curiosity in a sexually inspiring way. Unfortunately every time I use this face people just think I'm a serial killer with no sense of humour. And it should be obvious that I enjoy both cereal and humour.
Conclusion
My Dad always used to say, "there's a method to the madness." And that was actually before and after he went to the local madhouse for playing mad house beats dressed as Method Man at a man's meth lab house meet & greet. But little did I know that the same logic which crowned him a party legend would also ring true for a facial expression that probably wasn't even invented way back then in those dark and terrible times before the internet, blockchain technology, and pepe memes.
The duck face is now a permanent staple around the world. Some people use it seriously but mostly every single thing I could find about it online had a slightly negative angle which involved either mocking the facial expression or using it ironically in a demeaning way.
So in conclusion, I hope this article acted as a form of entertainment and education. Practically every example of human behaviour can be explained logically through the study of psychology. Psycho-logic-alley. Except of course Craig Wright claiming to be Satoshi. That's just a dude tryna flex without using the duck face. Which is exactly why it's stupid and not effective. For real though, you know the real Satoshi did the duck face at least once or twice during his/her/their/them/it's/cyborg's lifetime. Just imagine that photo at the back of the bitcoin whitepaper! Now that would have caused mass adoption. Live and learn though.
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Lol! Amazing article @walkonwayvs!! I used social media years ago, until I got sick of them, and I'm surprised duck face is still trending in pictures.