She'd heard it all a million times before, usually from total strangers.
"Smile. C'mon, it can't be that bad."
"You'd look so much prettier if you smiled."
"C'mon, where's that smile? Why do you always look so mad?"
Hearing these words did not sit well with Sing Sing, who more often than not would be walking along contentedly, lost deep in thought while browsing for bugs, when she heard them.
"But I'm not angry. I'm just thinking," she'd say to herself. "Is that so wrong?"
And what's more, "Why don't the roosters get these kinds of comments?"
It all felt uncomfortably sexist to her.
She spoke to a flock-mate about it. "Oh, that's sweet. I don't think it's sexist; I think it's caring!" was the unsatisfying feedback she received.
But she did not feel the comments were caring; she felt they were invasive. She felt they were presumptuous. She felt they were oppressive.
As she often did in times of angst, she marched into The Human's compound all aflutter. The Human was the only one there; it would have to do. Squawking and flapping, Sing Sing wove her tale, clucking out her frustration. The Human seemed to understand.
"Oh Sing Sing, there's nothing wrong with you; you just have Resting Bitch Face. Own it!"
Resting .... Bitch.... Face.....
Sing Sing mulled the words over in her mind. Now that she had a name for it, she felt oddly empowered. If there is a name for it, she thought, others must have it too.
She knew then was not alone, and in that thought she took sweet solace.