Dissociative Pout

About

The Dissociative Pout, also known as the Dissociative Gaze, refers to a selfie pose practiced largely by e-girls on Instagram and Tumblr characterized by pursed lips, sucked-in cheeks, eyes gazing up at the camera and an overall "dead" or crazy look. It has also been characterized as “lobotomy-chic.” It became prominent in the late 2010s into the early 2020s, coinciding with the rise of Girlboss memes, Schizoposting and the TV show Euphoria. The term was coined in early 2022 by the magazine i-D.

Origin

On May 4th, 2022, the Vice News sub-outlet i-D magazine published an opinion piece titled, "The cult of the dissociative pout," written by freelancer Rayne Fisher-Quann. She characterized the dissociative pout as a "lobotomy-chic, dead-eyed pose" that was taking over people's Instagram feeds, relating it to precursor selfie fads like the Duck Face. She likened the pose's popularity to a "performance of detachment," meant to showcase attractiveness without portraying try-hardness.

As evidence, Fisher-Quann embedded Instagram posts from notable e-girls, actresses and musicians who utilized the pose on their profiles. The primary woman featured was Euphoria actress and porn star Chloe Cherry, who played "Faye" on the show. Fisher-Quann specifically referenced an Instagram post^[2] made by Cherry on April 2nd, 2022, one in which she is holding a bunny in a creepy room. The post received roughly 241,900 likes over the course of one month (shown below, left).

Additionally, Fisher-Quann embedded a post^[3] from former Vine star and YouTuber Enya Umanzor uploaded on March 6th, 2020, which earned roughly 261,400 likes over the course of two years (shown below, right).

Additionally, Fisher-Quann referenced the term Vibe Shift in regards to The Cut^[4] article about the changing nature of aesthetics in the early 2020s.

Overall, the idea of "idolizing nihilistic teen"^[1] aesthetics is nothing new, as mentioned by Fisher-Quann in her article. In memes and internet history, women like Creepy Chan or Allison Harvard have already embodied this aesthetic.

Spread

After the i-D article, i-D tweeted^[5] about it on May 5th, 2022, earning over 120 likes in eight days. That same day, Twitter^[6] user purplebalIs tweeted a screenshot of i-D's leading headline, captioning it, "1000 cock stare," and earning over 110 likes in eight days (shown below, left). On May 6th, Twitter^[7] user RlCKYRAGE posted similar tweet, captioning it, ""lobotomy-chic” sending me so bad 😭," and earning roughly 53,400 likes in one week (shown below, right).

RlCKYRAGE's tweet specifically brought the term to the attention of many internet users, inspiring quote retweets and replies based on the dissociative pout. For instance, Twitter^[8] user spacecatazz tweeted a reply on May 7th that stated, "allison harvard crawled so chloe cherry could.. also crawl," earning over 700 likes in six days (shown below, left). Additionally, the term started to be referenced on Instagram within circles of female and alt shitposters. On May 7th, 2022, Instagrammer^[9] ghosted_1996 posted, "My hot little take," on the dissociative pout, earning roughly 4,500 likes in six days (shown below, right).

The Daily Mail "Dissociative Pout" Article

On May 9th, 2022, The Daily Mail UK published their own article^[10] on the dissociative pout, instead calling it the "dissociative gaze."

On May 11th, Twitter^[11] user kari_paul tweeted a screenshot of The Daily Mail's headline, captioning it, "best daily mail I’ve ever seen," and earning roughly 30,900 likes in two days (shown below, left). The article and kari_paul's tweet re-sparked discourse surrounding the pose going into the following days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References