- I'm afraid this is gonna change the way I see myself.
(fake laughing)
This is the opposite of what I thought would happen.
- Do you wear contact lenses?
- Well I have them
but I don't really like to wear them that much.
- Now you do.
- Ah yes, the age old trope
of nerdy woman takes off her glasses
and immediately becomes more attractive.
I can't think of a single instance where glasses are put on
to demonstrate a glow up.
I've worn glasses for years.
I can't see very far without them, and besides,
they've become an extension of my sense of fashion.
But over the last few years, I've gotten some comments.
One man told my mother that he thought
I'm just so much prettier without my glasses,
and a friend told me,
"Do you have contacts?
"I mean, you don't need to wear
"statement glasses with everything."
(fake laughing)
So I'm embarking on a journey of self discovery.
Am I prettier without glasses?
We're using three methods to test this theory.
First, the Tinder test.
Which version of me gets more matches?
Then a blind survey.
Is glasses Megan perceived to be smarter
and more successful?
And finally a gayness test.
Do my glasses make me more queer presenting?
First, the Tinder test.
I started by taking five photos,
identical but for the glasses,
edited them to perfection and created a profile.
Hello, I got a haircut.
So I've created my glasses-clad Tinder profile.
I'm about to make it go live
and I'll keep it up for 24 hours,
and then I'll swipe on 100 people
and see how many matches I get.
Then I'm gonna make a completely separate profile
attached to a different phone number with no-glasses Megan,
keep that up for 24 hours
and see how many matches that profile gets.
This way, all of the controls are the same,
except the glasses.
And it's live.
10:55, I will check back at 10:55 tomorrow.
All right, it's been exactly 24 hours,
and yes I did get my nose pierced in that time.
Let's go to Tinder, swipe on 100 people.
One, two, three.
Oh, that was two.
Three.
77, 78.
98, 99, 100.
All right, so out of 100 people that I swiped on,
it looks like I have 39 new matches.
It'll be curious to compare it
to the no-glasses Megan tomorrow.
See you then.
All right y'all, it's been 24 hours, let's go check Tinder.
What if it's just damning evidence?
I'm afraid this is gonna change the way I see myself.
One, two.
(audio fast forwarding)
98, 99, 100.
(quirky music)
There's no way the discrepancy can be that big.
Editing Megan here, popping in to say
I initially only got five matches,
and not to sound big-headed,
but that was kind of confusing
compared to the 40 I got the day before.
So I decided to let the profile sit for a couple of hours
and see how those 100 people I swiped on came back,
and this next clip you're gonna see is from two hours later.
I got 25 matches, and only one of them is a girl.
This is the opposite of what I thought would happen.
I'm torn because I've been wearing my glasses less often
and now I'm like, "Well, am I ugly without them now?"
The glasses profile ended up getting 14 more total matches
than no glasses.
It also had four men swipe right,
and 10 more not cisgendered men.
- Do me a favor?
- What?
- Take off these glasses.
You have nice eyes.
- Today we're testing the stereotype
that people who wear glasses are particularly smart
and more successful.
I should be evidence enough that isn't the case,
but we'll conduct our study anyways.
I published two surveys with slightly different pictures.
First I'm asking the audience to choose three adjectives.
Will glasses Megan seem more cold and strict,
kind of like how librarians are portrayed in the media?
Then I ask what her occupation might be.
Will people assume glasses Megan works
at a super academic or a highly creative field?
Finally, what's my salary range?
Do people think that glasses Megan
makes way more money than non-glasses Megan?
Once I feel like I have a big enough pool of responses,
I'll analyze the data and get back to you
in around two seconds.
After extensive calculations and consulting
with the good people of the Internet, the results are in
and they will shock you.
Just kidding, but it's pretty interesting.
Has it been out of focus this whole time?
Let's review part one of the survey.
The top three adjectives for no-glasses Megan
were artsy, friendly and fun.
The top three adjectives for glasses Megan
was artsy, quirky and then a two-way tie
between friendly and fun.
So I guess my glasses really don't play a role
in how people perceive my personality.
This kinda surprises me.
Most people that no-glasses Megan would be a photographer.
Glasses Megan received almost the same results,
with the exception of teacher.
When I think of a teacher,
I think of someone wearing glasses,
so it's kinda funny to me that glasses Megan
got the teacher branding.
For both surveys, the audience found that pilot,
politician and someone in finance
were the least likely occupation
for either version of me to have.
The final part of the survey, salary.
On the final salary portion, shockingly enough to me,
the audience voted essentially the same for both profiles.
Without my glasses, the audience found I was most likely
to make 20 to $50000 a year,
with 100 thousand and up salary range
getting almost no votes.
So I'm not smarter or more successful with glasses,
that's kind of a bummer.
Why am I disappointed
that I'm not living up to the stereotype?
Why don't they think I'm a pilot?
I guess there's only one last test to run.
- What's the matter?
- Just wondering if you have to wear...
- Oh, not necessarily.
- Hello.
- Today is the gayness test.
That is not a very clever title.
To determine if I present more queer
when I'm wearing glasses.
Whenever I'm wanting to immediately be perceived as queer,
I reach for them.
Why is that?
Is there any validity?
Let's find out.
Disclaimer: gayness does not have just one look
or face or body.
It is not just glasses or short haircut.
You are valid in your gayness regardless of how you present.
I've taken some photos, identical but for the glasses,
and we're gonna ask both Instagram and Twitter
to tell us which version they would judge to be queer.
I'm going to leave this poll up for 24 hours
and tomorrow, we will have the results of our final test.
All right y'all, the results are in.
766 people voted that right girl seemed more queer
and 267 people voted that left girl seemed more queer.
That being said, I got some interesting comments.
Some of the comments are in line with the data.
"I mean, probably both
"but glasses are classic queer signaling."
Someone just said, "Glasses."
"Glasses are gay."
"Gladses."
So there was just a lot of comments
about the glasses being gay.
There were also a lot of comments like,
"I couldn't choose, you're a person and if you're gay,
"you can look like whatever you want."
Someone said, "None, you can't really guess
"by looking at someone."
This person says, "Not entirely sure
"but when I wear my glasses, I feel most queer."
This person said, "Maybe because I've seen
"several queer characters in TV/movies that wear glasses,
"I need to reflect on that."
And then there were several comments that just said,
"Vibes."
Most people on Twitter just said neither or both,
it was kinda inconclusive.
Except this one person that said
that I look like a curly haired James Charles.
I don't know if I see that.
So in the end, contrary to everything
the media has taught me,
my glasses make little to no difference
in the way I'm perceived.
I'm a little gayer, no smarter and slightly more attractive
with my glasses on.
That being said, media does not reflect reality,
and I will not be changing anything
about the way I present myself.
(dance song plays)