I’m surprised this still needs to be explained, but judging from certain events and some of the comments on the Facebook post, it does.
Are
you thinking of telling a woman to smile, or that she’s prettier when
she smiles? I’ve saved this Google search for your reference.
I mean, literally the entire first page of results for that question is “DON’T DO THAT.”
Telling a woman to smile – especially if you tell her to smile because it makes her prettier – is a good way to tell everyone around you that you’re a sexist asshat.
You’re not a sexist asshat?
THEN DON’T TELL WOMEN TO JUST SMILE.
The thing here is where you’re dictating to someone else how they’re supposed to present for your pleasure.
If you’re actually concerned about their well being, you’d ask if anything was wrong and if they wanted to talk about it.
If you like the women around you being happy, then do some shit that makes them happy and treat them like real people instead of objects.
Yes, I realize that people with good intentions have done this without realizing how much they seemed like a sexist jackass. Here’s what those people should do:
STOP TELLING WOMEN TO SMILE AND TREAT THEM LIKE PEOPLE FROM NOW ON. CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR INSTEAD OF GETTING DEFENSIVE.