Since the coronavirus outbreak began, public health officials have urged people to stop touching their faces, and people have responded by saying "oh okay easy," then accidentally touching their faces. As I'm writing this, I keep putting my fingers on my mouth for literally no reason. And I know better! It's like when the doctor tells you to breathe normally, and then all of a sudden all you can think about is how weird breathing is, are you even doing it correctly, and wow am I actually suffocating right now?
To touch your face, though, is to be human. "Only humans and a few primates (gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees) are known to touch their faces with little or no awareness of the habit," writes The New York Times, adding that "most animals touch their faces only to groom or swat away a pest." All it takes is a glance at the history of art and photography to realize how true this is, and that for hundreds of years we've been depicting people touching their faces divinely, flirtatiously, guiltily, and even existentially.
Here are 10 iconic face-touching moments from across the globe, to remind you that yes, you really should stop touching your face — but it's totally normal to forget, too.
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Cheesy stock photos are ample proof that resting a hand on the lower-half of your face is universally considered to be a thoughtful gesture. What's maybe more surprising is that it's been considered to be one for so long — just take this contemplative bronze bodhisattva, which was made in Korea in the mid-7th century. Good thing they didn't have COVID-19 back then! Just, uh, the plague.
2. Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe
Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) caused a scandal when it debuted in Paris in 1863, but not for the reason it should have — that the nude model in the center is touching her face. Of course, walking around without clothes on isn't an advisable way to avoid viruses either.
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3. Edvard Munch's The Scream
Perhaps the most famous face-toucher of all time, the central figure in Munch's 1893 The Scream raises both hands to his face in horror over the human condition (or perhaps over the price face masks are going for on eBay).
4. AugusteRodin'sThe Thinker
(Image credit: iStockphoto)
Unless Rodin's The Thinker washed that hand before putting it to his mouth in thought, I don't feel good about his odds.
5. Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother
One of the most powerful photographs ever taken, Dorthea Lange's portrait of Florence Owens Thompson became a symbol of suffering during the Great Depression. It's also an example of why we're compelled to reflexively touch our faces in the first place: due to our emotions, more often than not stress. "German researchers analyzed the brain's electrical activity before and after spontaneous face touching, and their findings suggested that we touch our faces as a way to relieve stress and manage our emotions," The New York Times reports. Ironically, trying to remember to not touch your face will probably stress you out even more.
6. Roy Lichtenstein's Crying Girl
Lichtenstein's Crying Girl just wouldn't look as romantic wiping her tears away with a tissue. Still, you want to think twice before touching your mucus membranes — your eyes, mouth, or nose, all easy entryways for viruses — with your bare hands, however elegant it might seem.
7. George Roy Hill's The Sting
In The Sting, grifters Shaw and Kelly (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) touch their noses as a kind of wink-wink acknowledgement of their con. Nose tapping is a language in and of itself, though, and "is almost always dependent on the context," explains TV Tropesof the widely-used gesture. Nevertheless, you and your buddies probably want to keep your horse race scams to a minimum during a pandemic.
8. Bill Clinton's grand jury deposition
(AP Photo/APTN)
Do you remember that Fox show, Lie to Me? It's where I first learned that touching your face is a sketchy gesture — in the show, it's one of the ways the microexpression reader, Dr. Cal Lightman, can tell when someone isn't telling the truth. While the show was founded on a lot of bunk science, "when an adult tells a lie, it's as if his brain instructs his hand to cover his mouth in an attempt to block the deceitful words," explain Allan and Barbara Pease in their Definitive Book of Body Language. Oh, and apropos of nothing, here is a photo of Bill Clinton in 1998 after he was asked about Monica Lewinsky.
9. Michael Curtiz's Casablanca
I'm sorry, but I'm about to ruin Casablanca for you. Think about how hard it is to keep your own hands clean — now think about if you'd really want to risk someone else touching your face. When Humphrey Bogart reaches out to gently take Ingrid Bergman's chin in his hand to comfort her in what is considered to be one of the most romantic scenes of all time, he could be unwittingly passing on who knows what kind of pathogens. You'll never hear "here's looking at you, kid" quite the same way again.
10. Joe Biden
I can't believe I apparently have to say this, but please do not put your hand in someone else's mouth, either.
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
