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On Thursday, October 3, former President Donald Trump held a rally in Michigan, during which some supporters were seen making gestures associated with the popular Mewing trend, which quickly went viral.
For the unversed, mewing became a popular trend, mostly amongst teens, earlier this year. In the trend, teens usually place a finger on their mouth in a "shhh" gesture and then slide the finger from the top of one side of the jaw to the chin.
Netizens recognized this trend as clips circulated on the internet showing Trump supporters making similar gestures. However, it is necessary to understand that mewing isn't just a TikTok trend but also a move that had previously been defined by the American Association of Orthodontics (AAO).
The AAO has defined the phrase as a "do-it-yourself facial restructuring method." In this process, the person presses their tongue to the roof of their mouth, which eventually makes their jawline look sharper and face seem thinner. The process is, however, not officially recognized in the field of dentistry. According to AAO:
"A complex interplay of genetics, bone growth, and muscle development influences facial structure... Simply changing tongue placement isn’t enough to magically correct misaligned teeth, reshape your jawline, and prevent the need for orthodontic treatment."
As per Today.com, Arizona special education math teacher Philip Lindsay noted that the trend has become extremely popular among teenage children. In a TikTok video, Lindsay tried to decipher the trend, claiming that a lot of young people use it when they don't want to answer a question.
The teacher stated that he has never met a student who meant to be disrespectful with the gesture. While many internet users speculated that the supporters were just doing the TikTok trend, others believed that the gestures were actually meant to be threatening in nature. A user wrote on X:
"Where the hell is Secret Service to arrest these individuals. This is not mewing or whatever they wanna say. This is a threat, and it must be stopped! Pray for Trump!!!"
More about the "mewing" technique
It is not confirmed if the attendees at Donald Trump's Michigan rally who made the mewing gesture had any malicious intent. However, most teenagers seem to do it for fun. In an article published by Everyday Health in June 2020, Joyce Kahng, owner of Orange and Magnolia Dental Studio in Costa Mesa, stated:
"The ‘mewing’ concept is the idea that the tongue should be placed against the roof of the mouth in order to prevent misalignment of the jaw."
According to the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, the technique first became popular back in 2019. Since then, its popularity has just kept increasing, which eventually turned it into a social media trend.
Additionally, it has been found that while the name of the trend is becoming popular lately, the process itself has been known since the 1970s.
