Why Kids All Pose with the Peace Sign in Photos
From family snapshots to school pictures, children today almost always strike the peace sign, a simple V-shaped gesture that has quietly become a ubiquitous part of their photo poses.
A recent report in Vox’s newsletter Kids Today explores why the peace sign has become so common among children, tracing its long history and explaining its current popularity with Generation Alpha.
The peace sign, or V-sign, has been part of American culture for nearly a century. The contemporary version — two fingers held up with the palm facing outward — originated during World War II as a symbol of victory over Nazism. In the 1960s, American activists adopted it to signify opposition to the Vietnam War. Over time, the gesture evolved into a general symbol of peace.
By the 1980s and 1990s, it could serve as a greeting, a farewell, or a playful addition to “hippie” costumes. But it was not widely used as a standard photo pose — at least not the way today’s children do it — and the gesture rarely carried the same meaning for them.
The Influence of Japanese Pop Culture
One factor behind the peace sign’s popularity among Gen Z and Gen Alpha is Japanese pop culture, particularly anime. The gesture began spreading in Japan as early as the 1970s, possibly popularized by a camera commercial. Young people there adopted it in photos, and anime characters frequently display it.
Nicholas Friedman, publisher of Crunchyroll News, explains that in anime, the peace sign often appears when characters celebrate a victory, but it also shows up in everyday contexts.
“People are just hanging out, they’re taking selfies, they’re in photo booths, and they’re throwing up the peace sign,” Friedman tells Kids Today.
Anime is more integrated into children’s lives today than in the past, with kids discovering it through social media and streaming platforms. The peace sign is closely linked to “kawaii,” or cute, culture in anime. Kawaii aesthetics permeate everything from toys to TV shows, and children often flash the peace sign in photos simply because, as the report puts it, “they want to look cute.”
Children Are Photographed More Than Ever
Another reason kids use the peace sign is practical: it gives them something to do with their hands in photos. Friedman notes that gestures often lose their original meanings over time. While older generations might have considered a gesture’s symbolism, Gen Z and Gen Alpha “just kind of do it.”
Children today are also photographed far more frequently than in the 1980s and 1990s, see their own images often, and grow up in a culture that emphasizes posing for pictures. The peace sign trend reflects Generation Alpha’s casual approach to meaning and the highly visual culture they live.
According to Vox’s Kids Today newsletter, the peace sign isn’t the only pose children use in photos. New variations are emerging in photos, including the “gyaru peace sign,” with the palm facing up, and a sideways peace sign framing the eye between the fingers.
Previously, PetaPixel reported on how teenagers are covering their faces in family photographs in a Generation Z trend known as the “nose cover” pose. Teens have taken to covering the middle of their faces with their hands in photos as a way to appease their parents when they are forced to pose for family portraits that will likely be posted on social media.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
