PARIS, March 18 — On social networks, a concept called "green line theory” promises to help distinguish alpha men, or so-called "real” men, from their more submissive beta counterparts.

This theory has been made popular by a Twitter account operated by a certain Rivelino. This American social media user draws on celebrity photos to lend weight to this pseudoscience.

Green line theory claims to help decipher the power dynamics of a relationship from a simple photograph of a couple.

A green line, also called a "power axis,” could supposedly speak volumes about a person’s behaviour towards the opposite sex. To apply this theory, simply take a picture of a couple and draw a green line that follows the posture of each person in the picture.

If the green line drawn on the man is straight and that of the woman is leaning towards him, you can conclude that the woman has deeper feelings than the man.

But the real purpose of this theory is to distinguish so-called alphas, or dominant males, from betas, more submissive types.

This idea appears to have come about via the Twitter account of a certain Rivelino, who has made a habit of (over)analysing the postures and gestures of celebrities from photos.

To these are added green lines and various bold, if not to say outrageous, claims and remarks.

According to Rivelino, green line theory is supposedly a way of identifying "real men” as those who do not lean in towards their female partner.

For example, Pete Davidson leaning in to hug Kim Kardashian is supposedly a sign of weakness, which would explain their breakup.

According to the internet user, an example to follow is a man who stands up straight and lets women lean towards him, in the manner of Donald Trump. Rivelino also analyses the recent cover of Vogue USA which features the singer Rihanna taking by the hand rapper A$AP Rocky, who has their infant in his arms.

Here, the green line is placed on Rihanna, who is not leaning towards her companion, but walking in front of him. Rivelino sees this as the blatant submission of the rapper, who is labelled as a "submissive nurturing feminine man” in the relationship.

Moreover, this pseudoscience purports to be able to determine whether the relationship will work in the long run based on a couple’s body language.

On Twitter and TikTok many people are calling out this theory as being baseless.

Between comments pointng out that leaning in photos often depends on the various heights of the individuals, as well as on the angle of the camera, individuals’ perceived best sides and favoured poses, commenters had a range of responses casting doubt on the dubious ‘theory’ and pointing out the lack of scientific evidence.

Obviously, there is no scientific study to support green line theory, which is more in the realm of pseudoscience.

"Similar claims are widely disseminated by ‘body language experts’, associating specific facial and body positions to specific meanings, all with a single photo,” Vincent Denault, an expert in nonverbal communication, told Dazed. "These claims go against decades of scientific research.

Anyone remotely familiar with nonverbal behaviour research would recognise the nonsense.” — ETX Studio