diff --git a/avatar/conf.py b/avatar/conf.py
index 05e36af..645fa25 100644
--- a/avatar/conf.py
+++ b/avatar/conf.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ class AvatarConf(AppConf):
     GRAVATAR_FIELD = 'email'
     GRAVATAR_BACKUP = True
     GRAVATAR_DEFAULT = None
+    AVATAR_GRAVATAR_FORCEDEFAULT = False
     DEFAULT_URL = 'avatar/img/default.jpg'
     MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER = 42
     MAX_SIZE = 1024 * 1024
diff --git a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
index bf62e80..4dc7963 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ def avatar_url(user, size=settings.AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE):
         params = {'s': str(size)}
         if settings.AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT:
             params['d'] = settings.AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
+        if settings.AVATAR_GRAVATAR_FORCEDEFAULT:
+            params['f'] = 'y'
         path = "%s/?%s" % (hashlib.md5(force_bytes(getattr(user,
             settings.AVATAR_GRAVATAR_FIELD))).hexdigest(), urlencode(params))
         return urljoin(settings.AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL, path)
diff --git a/docs/index.txt b/docs/index.txt
index 88767f8..1a6dd05 100644
--- a/docs/index.txt
+++ b/docs/index.txt
@@ -139,6 +139,11 @@ AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
     `Gravatar documentation <https://en.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/#default-image>`_.
     Defaults to ``None``.
 
+AVATAR_GRAVATAR_FORCEDEFAULT
+    A bool indicating whether or not to always use the default Gravitar. More details can be found
+    in the `Gravatar documentation <https://en.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/#force-default>`_.
+    Defaults to ``False``.
+
 AVATAR_GRAVATAR_FIELD
     The name of the user's field containing the gravatar email. For example, if you set
     this to ``gravatar`` then django-avatar will get the user's gravatar in ``user.gravatar``.