Gigil (so cute)

Cute


“Gigil” is a Filipino word that describes an irresistible urge to squeeze something perceived as extremely cute — it’s the intensity of feeling cuteness.


When you look at something you find cute, what exactly do you feel? 


How does this sensation manifest in you? What does it really mean to say that something is “cute”? 


Try to trace the beginning of this experience: Does it arise in a specific part of your body? How does it unfold from there?


Before moving on to my phenomenological description of this experience, try to discover for yourself how this happens.



〰



Description

When I look at something I perceive as very cute, it’s as if the body anticipates the tactile sensation that would be felt when squeezing it.


I avoid saying “the brain anticipates” because I have no direct experiential access to the neural processes that make this perception possible, and the aim of this blog is not to provide scientific explanations, but rather experiential (phenomenological) descriptions.


An interesting reflection on this can be found in this video by philosopher Natalie Depraz – link)


The body seems to simulate this sensation through a gentle tightening that begins in the throat — without restricting the airflow — and extends into the inside of the mouth, composing an experience of cuteness (as I also described in another post about tactile imagination).


The facial expression tends to configure itself in a way that further intensifies this sensation.


It’s as if everything reorients toward a center — a kind of “middle” — without fully reaching or closing in on it.


This “cute tension” seems to move from the region of the throat — just below the mandible— toward the hands.


This creates the impression that the feeling of cuteness is being anticipated in the fingers, which begin to move as if they were already squeezing something soft.


They become slightly more tense and perform small closing motions, without forming a full fist — a gesture that, in fact, can be voluntarily held back.


At times, the fingers meet the palms and squeeze the hands themselves, seeking to feel their soft pads — and in this gesture, I may make small pulsating movements with the fingers, gently pressing those pads.


The entire body can organize itself in this direction:

The throat and the inside of the mouth are involved, along with a light pressing of the lips and teeth, and an engaged facial expression.


The hands move close to the face, the arms tighten around the torso, and sometimes even the feet mirror the gestures of the hands.


All these elements contribute to intensifying the sense of cuteness and pleasure that accompanies the encounter with what is perceived as cute.


Sometimes, there’s also a desire to bite, but not in an aggressive way — it’s as if the affection is so intense it needs to escape physically, to overflow in the form of a gesture. 


Although this experience involves a kind of “tightening,” it clearly differs from that associated, for example, with anguish — which is unpleasant and manifests as an oppressive constriction, felt as a weight in the chest. 


Here, it is a satisfying, comforting tightening — a gesture of closure that remains suspended, never fully completing itself.


All these outward expressions can be suppressed, but for the sensation of cuteness to arise, at least this gentle tightening must occur in the regions of the throat and mouth.


The urge is to squeeze, squeeze until it’s almost reduced to nothing — and even then, it wouldn’t be enough. There’s no sense of satisfaction. 


What seems to happen is that the urge gradually fades on its own, or we simply get distracted by something else. 


It’s something like eating a lot and still feeling hungry — while at the same time feeling nauseous or as if there’s no more room in your body for any more food. 


It’s a state of dissatisfaction, as if the desire wasn’t truly fulfilled by the act of eating, but simply faded due to the abandonment of trying to satisfy it — not because it was actually fulfilled.



Elmyra Duff - Tiny Toon



Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E


 

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