Does a middle finger in the air mean something different now than in the past?

[944592]

This is a question about whether a gesture's meaning varies.

For my generation and location (61 y.o. in So California) sticking your middle finger in the air was always an extremely angry gesture. It was used as the ultimate dismissive in a conversation or argument and was almost always accompanied by a verbal "fuck you!" it also was used mostly by men, at least in my experience.
But now I keep seeing photos on the web of young women, usually in selfies, making this gesture at the camera. Does it mean something new or something more now? A sexy naked woman making an angry gesture is contradictory to me, unless perhaps she's making it to someone who said he was hung but isn't. I suppose the related question for "ask a man" is, "Do you find it attractive when a woman in a selfie is flipping you off?"

 

[AlteredEgo]

It still means the same thing. The twits fancy themselves rebellious.

For the record, one needn't be angry to be dismissive.

 

[nailz]

People do all kinds of stupid things in selfies.
Duck face is so much worse than a "finger" selfie.
Thankfully I haven't seen a duck-face-middle-finger-selfie yet

 

[Mercurygirl]

Thankfully I haven't seen a duck-face-middle-finger-selfie yet

As to the OP query ...

Bitches giving middle fingers in photos could mean a simple "fuck you" but could also translate to:

"Hey girlfriend."

"This means I'm one fuckin' bad ass bitch."

"Damn I look good in this little black dress, fuck yeah!"

"Fuck it, I'm getting wasted tonight."

"Fuck it, I am wasted tonight."

"I'm flipping you the bird because all the other kids are doing it, I don't know why, I'm just an unoriginal bitch."

"Fuck you daff bitch, my face isn't on, why you taking my photo?!"

"Definitely posting this on Facebook, me hanging with my girls, that cute guy at school is gonna see it and think I'm edgy and want to get in my pants, fuck him, I'm so going down on the ponytail blonde two girls to the left of me, bitch is hot."

"Fuck you Steve, you broke my heart you piece of shit cheater, hope you get an STD from that nasty ho Claire, bitch is dead btw, now I'm gonna fuck all your friends, maybe even your ugly brother and your creepy dad whose eyes were always burning a hole in my ass especially those times I came over to use your pool."

 

[944592]

Thank you for a most thorough response, @Mercurygirl. And I agree with @nailz that duckface is a greater annoyance.

 

[rtg]

People do all kinds of stupid things in selfies.
Duck face is so much worse than a "finger" selfie.

I'm sad to say that I've actually seen a number of guys on tinder with duck face selfies.... and I'm pretty sure they weren't taken or posted as jokes

 

[693987]

It still means the same thing. The twits fancy themselves rebellious.

For the record, one needn't be angry to be dismissive.

What AE said. I see it as just another form of wanna be "edgy" that just comes off as try hard and stupid.