A bloke in the street said 'cheer up love, give us a smile' and I did. Urgh!!!

[YoJesse]

And now I'm pissed off with myself. I didn't feel like smiling, I don't think I should have to smile because some random male said I should. I just instantly did as I was told before my brain even engaged. Then he said 'ahh, that's much better baby face' I always do this or look embarrassed and scuttle by with my head down when blokes say stuff like this in the street even though I would call myself a feminist. (I'm not great at putting my feminist beliefs into action).

What do other women do? Withering look, sharp comment or just ignore.
Is it unreasonable for something like this to get to me that much?

Someone said this to me once I was 18 and in the way to my dads funeral! Her face was a picture when I said where I was going. It cheered me up a bit my dad would have laughed his head off

"Cheer up it might never happen"

If I'm in my little dream world and unintentionally giving off resting bitch face I do just laugh and smile.
If I'm genuinely pissed off I just give a withering stare.

I have a nasty case of resting bitch face. It is related to a genetic condition that I passed to my children - I am sure we must look like the most foul family ever.

I have heard this loads of times, and don't get my pants in a twist. However, I have counselled my children just to disregard it.

Chinks oddly I have only heard "cheer up, it might never happen" once.

It was while I was planning my daughter's funeral. I am not proud of my response to the woman who said it.

Anyone who tells a stager to smile, whether they are male or female is a knob.

A (female) colleague just said as much to me and said I was looking too serious. I told her I'd just received a shitty email from someone in another department and was composing a passive aggressive response back and cc'ing their manager in.

But swearing talking about it with her did help me smile, so it's not all bad.

When blokes say it to me in the street they get told to stop being misogynist fuckwitted cockwombles.

I apparently have resting Eeyore face so I get this frequently. My favourite response is to do the scariest, craziest smile you can muster, as close to their face as you can get. The look of fear is priceless 😀

Once this was said to me at a bar moments before dp showed up and said "she smiles when she's with me." Blokey looked startled AF and muttered "oh, sorry mate." To which dp replied "it's not me you owe the apology" he said sorry to me and walked off quietly. I don't need a man to fight my battles but just goes to show what sexist, cowardly cretins these men really are.

I get that you don't need a man to fight your battles, but your DH's timing and quick response were stellar. Good on him!

I remember years ago reading that author Susan Hill had a taxi driver say this to her as she was getting a lift home from the hospital - "Cheer up love it may never happen." Her five week old daughter had just died after being born prematurely.

It's just such an inappropriate thing to say on every level.

It's not just men that say it - I can confirm that my mother says it. She used to say it frequently to me as a teenager, as well as "ooh, who rattled your cage", and "Oh cheer up for god's sake, you've got a face like fizz". People would never like me because I didn't walk around smiling at everyone apparently.

Never worked out what "fizz" was, and I wish I'd been brave enough to say "Well I learned from the best" or something of that nature.

Ah I hate this kind of thing. I just ignore it!

I do what arf does - turn a withering glare on them and tell them that a close relative (decide which at the time) has just died.

I've not RTFT but I'm going to plump for someone saying "it's just making conversation" at some point. No it isn't. It is intrusive and unnecessary.

I've had this said to me as I walked out of hospital after a missed miscarriage, having just sat in a room for counselling and taken the mifepristone required to induce the loss , knowing I was heading back home to lose and mourn a much wanted but non viable pregnancy
I've had it said walking to my car one morning after a dealing with a particularly traumatic cardiac arrest which we could not rescue

I may have looked distant, preoccupied and miserable on both occasions, though not actively crying. I did not make eye contact with either stranger, and you would think someone seeing 'upset woman walking away from a hospital entrance' might have the awareness to think - she might have a back story and not welcome this
Oddly enough I have been rather comforted by a stranger at a bus stop, again following an awful work event say ' you look as though you've had a bad day, everything alright?' Which although a bit intrusive at least showed some awareness that I was a human being and an attempt at empathy and comfort.

The problem is not me looking miserable. The problem is arrogant fuckers who think they have the right to comment on it in a way that is both a reproach and a command