I don’t really care that women and girls (mostly) do the “duckface” thing in photos, but I’m curious about the sociological reasons for it and the origins.

Since I was as mentioned curious about it tonight, I looked through old pre-internet photos and I couldn’t really find any examples of true “duckface” as exemplified by nearly any casual photo (especially a selfie) of a woman between 15-28.

My pet theory is that it is a way of acknowledging and negating the absurdity of constant observation – even self-observation – and stating wordlessly that the viewer has no critique of the image that the image-taker has not already considered, and in fact that any such critique is itself just as absurd as the act of taking such a photo.

By the way, though duckface looks ridiculous it is no more absurd than the factitious practice of smiling in photos where no smiling is or would be natural. Smiling looks more volitional, in other words, but it is absolutely just as contrived as duckface.

Duckface then is a way of acknowledging the artificiality of the construct of modern communication as mediated by Facebook, Instagram and others, and of implicitly commenting on the the omnipresent performative nature of existing in a constantly-surveilled society, especially one where much of the surveillance is self-administered and strangers are able to judge the validity and quality (on various axes) of your self-surveillance.

The pursed lips and deliberate nullification of attractiveness is a way of submitting to and rejecting these values and norms all at once.