What is ahegao and why is it so popular?

Psychology Sep 3, 2021

They year is 2021. You open Instagram, Youtube, or any other social media, and chances are you’ll see a lot of eyes open, crossed and rolled back, with tongues sticking out. This is the ahegao face, the sexy facial expression that is flooding the internet.

But what does it mean and where did the ahegao face originate?

Ahegao origin

Ahegao might seem to be the craze nowadays, but it’s not something new at all. In fact, it’s a popular fetish in hentai – Japanese adult animation –, that has been around for longer than most people reading this article.

Though many believe that the first mention of Asian ahegao in anime dates back to the 1990s, truth is, there are earlier known records of it in the hentai market as far back as the 1960s. In those hentai comics, ahegao was used to describe the facial expressions of their characters as they reached orgasm – eyes rolling back, tongue exposed, and panting of blushing. The idea was to show an intense level of arousal, reaching the point of losing their faculties completely. So we could say that ahegao is an anime pleasure face. The word itself comes from a combination of “ahe”, a Japanese onomatopoeia used to describe a female’s moan and sexual excitment, and “kao”, the Japanese word for face. Pretty self-explanatory.

Why did this Japanese sex face become so popular?

This trend has gained popularity with an increasing number of people searching for Ahegao on Google, which has seen a 50% rise in searches. Additionally, there are several Ahegao-related subreddits on the platform Reddit, with a total of around 250,000 followers. On Instagram, the hashtag #ahegao has been used almost a million times, with some posts being removed due to the app's community guidelines.

The anime face ahegao proliferated in the last decade in the Western world thanks to the increasing popularity of hentai sites. What started as a recurring element in Japanese porn comics, is now a bandwagon that made it into the mainstream and can be found even in selfie culture.

The reason of ahegao’s popularity is simple: it symbolizes a loss of control, and that alone is alluring. It unlocks a new fantasy for many – imagine having or giving someone such a powerful orgasm, that their faces transform completely. Hot, isn’t it? Others just find it humorous; of course nobody looks like that when they cum, that’s why that disproportionate response is funny.

According to Redditor coffeecreamer06, who was crowned "Ahegao Queen" by a committee of 140,000 ahegao lovers, "men like it so much because it's a physical way of knowing pleasure is being felt." And who are we to argue with the Ahegao Queen?

The demand of the anime girl sex face is such, that it even got its own niche in porn. Ahegao porn is a popular category that you can find in famous adult sites like Stripchat. But that’s not all; the demand for ahegao has also led to the development of ahegao t-shirts, hoodies, phone cases, and more. It's like people can't get enough of turning their fetish into a fashion statement. And why not? Life is short, so why not have a little fun.

And we can’t talk about ahegao without bringing up the absolute queen of it, internet sensation Belle Delphine, and official ahegao woman. She has her part in making ahegao so popular, as she became notorious because of her cute content which featured ahegao faces. Thus, a lot of people who were not familiar with anime, got introduced to ahegao through her. What is ahegao face without Belle Delphine? Certainly, it wouldn’t be half as popular as it is nowadays.

Belle Delphine managed to become an ahegao model and make a career from her sexy facial expressions, which culminated in her selling bottles of her bath water for $30 on the internet. So you never know where making an ahegao face might take you.

This stuff is not safe for work

Don’t say we didn’t warn you… We know some ahegao content may look innocent and cartoonish, but be careful; there’s lots of not-so-family friendly stuff out there. In fact, most of it is X-rated. The last thing you want is to send a photo doing an impression of ahegao by mistake to a family member, or share your screen during a Zoom cool, only for your coworkers to see different tabs with ahegao searches.

Ahegao’s controversy: racist fetishization

The use of the ahegao face has also been criticized for its racist fetishization of Asian women. Some argue that the expression is often used in pornographic content featuring Asian women and perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

Despite this criticism, there is limited discussion on the topic, especially among the East Asian community in Japan. Racism, fetishization, and stereotypes are often kept hidden and are not openly discussed. Many individuals who experience these issues may feel discouraged from speaking out or may not believe that anyone will listen.

The anime community has also been criticized for its perpetuation of racist and fetishizing content, including any ahegao face person. The lack of voices speaking out against these issues may be due to fear of backlash or the belief that speaking out will not make a difference.

Overall, the use of the ahegao face in the context of racist fetishization is a complex issue that requires more open discussion and awareness.