before I try to explain further about the statement, though... idk if you've ever been exposed to the girl side of local Tinder, but it is just saturated with photos of girls like... SUPER smiling. the sort that almost immediately appears forced/insincere at best and (maybe I'm just dramatic) at worst ... fucking maniacal.

of course the explanation is nothing sinister or anything - I'm sure you could 100% trace it to men insisting strange women should smile in like... a two-minute explainer video.

anyway, maybe whatever sexual(?) brain mechanism it is that compells men to say that has been 100% inverse in me literally since childhood. (no, I have never told any women on the street to stop smiling.) it's the eye contact, the cutes, and the expression...

hell yeah you're cute and what am I going to do about it?

...except I don't think anyone's ever used that phrase outside of like... breakfast at tiffany's and adjacent shit.

you know I have really walked myself into