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What Men Look Like When They're Photoshopped the Way Women Are

July 14th 2016

It's really no secret that women's bodies are regularly Photoshopped — down to their armpits. But do people realize just how much makeup and Photoshopping go into one photo shoot?

The four men behind "The Try Guys" video series at BuzzFeed decided to find out by recreating famous Photoshop fails and getting the same scrutinized, heavy Photoshopping that those women were subject to.

What they discovered horrified them.

"We're constantly looking at images that have been altered," they explain in the video. "We've only noticed it when it goes a step too far."

The men recreate photo shoots of a topless Victoria's Secret Model, a Ralph Lauren ad from 2009, a Kim Kardashian nude photo shoot from last year, and a Madonna lingerie photo shoot from 2008.

Before the Photoshopping begins, the men are heavily made up and contoured for the photo shoot.

One of the men, Eugene, sits in a chair for 45 minutes to get made up to look as though he's not wearing makeup. He is baffled by this process.

"I would probably slim your cheeks a little bit more," the makeup artist says to one of the "Try Guys," Zach.

"What's wrong with my cheeks?" he replies. (Welcome to our world, buddy.)

Try Guys Photo Shop FailBuzzFeed Video/YouTube - youtube.com

All of the guys struggle during the photo shoot. "This is a hyper-sexualized position," Keith muses out loud, as he's posing only in his underwear, facing the wall. "And my face is not a part of who I am at all in this. I'm an object. My face won't even be in the photo."

Chrissy Mahlmeister, BuzzFeed's lifestyles editor, warns the guys that the process is not a self-esteem booster. "I think the most shocking part might be, after you see the Photoshopped version of yourself, you basically have seen what someone wished that you looked like," she says. "It's so hard not to let that affect you."

Time for Photoshop!

First the guys see their photos from the shoot next to the photos they recreated. Then, they see their photos with heavy Photoshop effects added. Let's see how they react.

"I have bendy straws for arms," Zach says, upon seeing his Photoshopped self. "I know that I'm a very skinny person," he adds, "But seeing [the before and after] together... I'm like, 'I look chubby as fuck in the left photo.'"

The Try Guys Photoshop failBuzzFeed Video/YouTube - youtube.com

"Well, can you imagine being a young girl, having to look at images like this?" Eugene reasons.

"Gross!" Keith exclaims, after seeing his Photoshopped image. "I don't like seeing myself like this. I hate this. [...] I don't want to be seen as a sex object."

The Try Guys Photoshop FailBuzzFeed Video/YouTube - youtube.com

"If one of these women were to release a photo of what she looked like when she got out of bed, it would be considered 'brave'," Zach realizes, "as opposed to just, human."

The guys could not stop screaming over Ned's Photoshopped self. "Why would you do that??" Ned asks rhetorically, while Eugene leaves the couch, claiming he's "done." Ned is dismayed that his eye color was changed and his freckles, which he felt gave him "character," were removed. "I look like a vampire," he says.

The Try Guys Photoshop FailBuzzFeed Video/YouTube - youtube.com

Keith makes a really interesting point about Ned's transformation. "In an effort to Photoshop you to female standards, your look has gone from 'I will either murder or fuck you' to 'Won't you please come fuck me?'" The guys agree.

Oddly, it's Eugene's Kim Kardashian homage that has all the guys entranced. "You look like a sexy witch," one of them comments, amidst "oohs" and "aahs."

"I feel like I'm looking at a painting. I might have to hang this in my house," Eugene laughs. "You are impossibly smooth," Keith agrees, giving props to Photoshop for his skin regimen. "Nobody's back goes so effortlessly into their butt like that," he adds, "because if you stood up, you would be a nightmare human."

The Try Guys Photoshop FailBuzzFeed Video/YouTube - youtube.com

The video concludes with Mahlmeister asking the guys how, in the future, they'll react to some guy saying something sexist or body-shaming women. "Tell them to shut the fuck up," Zach says.

You can watch the full video below.

[H/T Glamour and BuzzFeed]

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