QUOTE:
"I want to ask you about the meaning of a body expression common among young women. I attached a picture of Britney Spears doing it. It's very common, it happens often in conversations, but not all girls do it (probably only girly girls?). It involves the shoulders, the tight smile, the eyes, ducking the head down. What does it mean?"
UNQUOTE
Hi Luis,
Good question. Yes, this posture is a frequent whole-body "flash pose" purposely done for a brief moment. It is a deliberate pretense of exaggerated body language intended to send a specific and strong message. At the precise time the pose is flashed, the person wants to pretend to be someone they are not or not be seen. This pose is seen frequently in children, is automatic, and has evolved in our ancestors.
Here is the body language:
Head pulled down into shoulders with shoulders pulled up and forward to make the body look smaller. An action much like a turtle pulling its head into the shell to hide. Also there is a tight jaw (neck muscles pulled) with fake smile (mouth has forced smile but eyes do not change to smile position).
This body language has protective survival value and has evolved over eons in our ancestors. This pose has two components:
- Pulling the head in is protective plus an attempt to hide.
- The smile is disarming and says, "I won't hurt you, so don't hurt me."
This pose is an "erasing pose", displayed to hide and negate some previous action. In this case, probably she is somewhere she did not want to be seen or is dressed in a way she did not want publicized.
In spite of all her defensive body language, her hand reveals more of the true Britney: It is open (fully exposed). Interestingly, here she has her thumb held close in to her hand. This says, "I'm not going to do anything right now." - See my Hand Analysis site: http://www.handanalysis.com/thumb1sm.html
Also her little finger is held out to the side, away from the hand while the other fingers are together. Quoting from my book, "It's All In Your Hands", page 7-10, this indicates, ". . . 'independence of thought'. "She or he will have ideas which are not only unique, but also may go against the mainstream of ideas accepted by others."
Here is another good question from Pekka in Finland, August 9, 2007:
QUOTE:
I'm really enjoying your websites. Thought I would ask you what you think about what is going on in this attached photograph, in regards to body language of dress, gaze, personality, etc...
UNQUOTE
Hi Pekka,
Good photo and good questions. First, here is what I see about both woman:
These two women in this picture are taking advantage of the fact that lots of bare skin, with rounded body parts exposed, get immediate attention from men.
There is lots of skin displayed, right up to today's socially accepted limit for Britney on the left. This "limit" to what is revealed of a woman's body is an artificial boundary that has varied throughout history and in different parts of the world. It is amusing to observe the differences in different parts of the world. For example, in Yap, Micronesia, it is common for women to go around with their breasts completely uncovered but they hide their thighs.
In most western cultures, the emphasis is on displaying the female pairs of semi-hemisphere shaped body parts: breasts, shoulders, cheeks, lips, eyes, buttocks, knees, leg and back muscles. Men's body shapes are typically more square and angular and are not as appealing.
One can easily see how our ancient male ancestors used these rounded body parts as gender identifiers to tell the difference between a woman or another man in the distance. The proper determination often made the difference between a pleasurable "roll in the grass" or a fight. The correct choice made by millions of our male ancestors has resulted in men's DNA programmed with attraction to, and a desire for, such pairs of semi-hemispherical shaped body parts.
It is common practice to use PhotoShop to increase the perfection of women's curves in advertisements. Even the auto industry in the past used pairs of semi-hemisphere shapes in auto body designs to make automobiles most attractive (i.e. sexy) to both males and females. Today, aerodynamic design is more important to meet government efficiency standards, but the designers still manage to emphasize the sexy rounded symmetrical concept where they can.
The next thing most noticeable is that both women have their arms hanging down and their heads are slightly down. This implies that they are being passive and approachable. (Remember the "looking down" trick women use to invite a man to approach?) Paris, on the right, even has her eyes looking down. This body language cue clearly says to men, "You can approach me and I will not resist or hurt you."
Interestingly, Paris' is probably using this more passive body language than Britney is using as a way to compete with Britney for men's attention. Britney is competing with Paris by showing more skin and curves. At a deep subconscious level, all women are competing for males to help create more packages of their DNA (i.e. make babies). This female competition for breeding rights with males goes on subconsciously all the time during the females' fertile years. At the same time that females are subconsciously competing for breeding rights with males, they are maintaining good relationships with all other female group members. At the deepest levels of the old brain, we are not much different than animals.
If any of you site-visitors have a good picture of a celebrity doing some interesting body language, please e-mail it to me. This looks like a new fun addition to the web site.
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