While Westerners are currently obsessed with the pouting selfie, there seems to be a trend with a large portion of the East Asian demographic to hold up the “V” hand-sign when being photographed; but why is this?
The main theories attribute the gesture to different things, the first being a reference to a famous Japanese figure skater, who pulled the “V” sign in 1972 after falling during a pivotal performance, which inevitably found its way into the mainstream media.
That said, the sign itself was also prominent in manga (Japanese animation), with many of the iconic characters showing the symbol during their adventures.
But probably the strongest influencer was the rise of East Asia’s “cute” subculture.
With the mass production of cameras, and a sudden surge in women’s and girls’ magazines in the 1980s, the aesthetics of kawaii — a visual culture superficially based on cuteness — took off. Suddenly, more women were posing for more shots, and more shots of women were being shared. V-signs proliferated much like today’s “duck face” pouts on Instagram and Facebook.
“The V-sign was (and still is) often recommended as a technique to make girls’ faces appear smaller and cuter,” says Jason Karlin, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo and an expert on Japanese media culture.
Check out the full story on TIME.
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