Gender and Sexual Orientation

Smiles are not the little and innocuous things they appear to be: Too numerous of us grin in lieu of displaying what's really on our minds. Indeed, the success of the women's action might be measured by the sincerity--and need of it--in our smiles. Despite all the work we American women have finished to get and sustain full legal command of our bodies, not to mention our destinies, we still don't seem to be completely in ascribe of a twosome of little muscle groups in our faces.

Why Women Smile, Amy Cunningham argues the value of the fake smile. She refers to not only her personal experience with smiling but also to societies' historical take on it; and she also includes a psychologist's perspective and research in order to support her assertion. Her assertion being that, women smile too often and for the all the wrong reasons. Cunningham first iterates her point by referring to the fact that although she has smiled brilliantly all of her life her smile has as she says, “Has not been servicing [her] well” due to the fact that she smiles for whatever reason, be it happy or sad (Deaux, 1993), 126). She then backs her statement that, “Smiles are not the little and innocuous things they appear to be: Too many of us smile in lieu of displaying what's actually on our minds” by pointing out that women, “Smile so often and so promiscuously when [they're] angry, when they're intense, when they're with children, when they're being photographed, when interviewing for a job, when meeting candidates to employ, that the smiling women has peculiarly become and American archetype” (Shields, 2000, 18).

She questions why our culture has, “Kept [womens'] smiles on autopilot,” pointing out that although by nature women are less irritable than ...