The 'Trying to Hold a Fart' meme, often referred to as the 'Strained Face Man,' features high school student Michael McGee in a state of extreme physical exertion with veins bulging prominently from his neck and forehead. Taken in 2013, the photo gained massive traction on Reddit and Twitter as the definitive visual representation of internal struggle and social anxiety. While the original photo was simply a joke between friends, it transformed into a universal symbol for any situation where one must maintain a calm exterior while battling an intense, uncontrollable internal force. It is most commonly used to describe the relatable agony of suppressing a flatulence or a sneeze in a quiet, high-stakes social environment like a classroom.