(intense music)
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- [Interviewer] In an age of call outs,
culture wars, and perfect facades,
people can be afraid to express how they really feel.
So we brought together seven strangers,
protected their identities,
and asked them all seven burning audience questions.
What will be revealed when we take the mask off?
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- [Interviewer] If the answer is yes,
you will flip on your light.
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Do you watch porn?
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- It's accessible.
And because it's accessible,
accessible and it's there,
people use it.
I'm one of them.
- I think most guys can agree that they have,
at least at some point, watched it.
And, you know, I mean it's,
if you can enjoy it in a healthy way,
if you can enjoy masturbating in a healthy way,
I think then, like, by all means, go for it.
- Yeah, I do watch porn.
God.
A lot of my teenage years,
I spent a lot of time self-obsessing over it
to the point where it kind of became an addiction.
And it took until very recently to get
out of the hole of, you know, paying for porn.
I do watch it, but I don't like that I watch it.
- [Interviewer] I'm gonna bring everyone else
into the conversation.
- I said, no.
I used to watch it a lot before.
I would say I was addicted to it.
My dad is in prison.
So there was no one really for me to talk to about sex.
So porn was my education on sex.
- From personal experience,
it messed me up because, after watching it so much,
you know, I'm sure we've all been there,
where you're on page five and like, nothing is right.
Like, you're looking for that right video.
But your dopamine receptors and everything
is so messed up at this point
that the same thing that would get you off,
wouldn't get you off anymore, right?
I went so deep into it where me,
I'm a straight man,
I started watching trans porn
because it was just erotic in a different way
that I've never seen before.
I needed more stimulation.
- Because of pornography?
- Yeah, because of pornography.
So I don't think it's just entertainment.
It actually affects with your brain
and the way you perceive love.
- You think that a lot of teenagers
or teen boys are really educated
on the effects of pornography?
- [All] No. (laughter)
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- [Interviewer] Have you ever cried
in front of someone else?
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- I wholeheartedly agree with this statement.
I feel like it's easier to open up towards women,
which is kind of embarrassing,
but, like, quite frankly
I feel like they understand emotions more because they,
they really understand the whole crying.
I mean, I feel like crying is sort of normal to them,
and they see of it as like a way to express themselves.
- It's interesting that you said that
you're more comfortable to cry in front of women.
I had a girlfriend and she broke up with me over text.
And before that we were, like, talking,
and I cried in front of her, and I was being honest,
and I thought that's what you're supposed to do.
That's what my dad taught me, right?
But I guess she interpreted it
as being insecure, and she broke up with me.
And that, that really messed me up for a little while
because it's like, well now I know I can't show any kind
of insecurity.
So I don't, I don't like crying in front of women.
Like I'd rather cry in front of some family that I trust.
Right?
- That's interesting because I'd rather find a stranger
on the street and tell 'em
everything I'm going through, - Me too.
- Because I will never see them again in my life.
And I feel like they won't be able to judge me.
- No strings attached. - 'Cause I'll never see them.
- I'd rather have a stranger think I'm strong.
And my family know all my problems. So that's interesting.
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- [Interviewer] Feminism has gone too far.
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- In the feminism movement, there's so much
of tearing down men or trying to put men back in their spot,
but if the women want us men to step up,
then I feel like it'd be a lot more productive,
instead of tearing down men and telling us all
what we're doing wrong then to,
on the other hand to build us up.
I guess, for the sake of keeping us accountable
for our actions, and as men we also need to step up.
- Giving females more opportunities to certain things,
I just think that's quite unfair,
and it's like, you gotta put in the work,
you gotta put in the certain thing,
certain things to earn these things.
And it's not like women are granted less access
to these jobs.
I mean, I know there's plenty of women
who are in business, who are doing good things for America.
I just find it counterintuitive that this
whole feminist movement is advocating for equal rights
and certain things when they already have access to them.
- I'm a feminist, I guess.
I believe in the equality of men and women.
I think that when we talk about feminism,
a lot of it boils down to employment.
I think that the bringing down of men
you guys keep on saying, bringing down men and shaming them.
I think that is way overstated.
I have never been shamed for my, for my maleness.
- I think, you know, if you look at any movement
there's definitely gonna be like a radical portion
of that movement.
But at the same time, like I wanna open up the question
to you guys.
Do any of you guys have personal experience
where you feel you've been brought down,
you know like to bring a woman up?
- Uh, a little bit.
Little bit like in my, in high school.
And it's not like the worst thing in the world that we have,
like in ASB my sophomore year,
there was like happy thoughts, right?
Like every Friday you just write something,
and you put it in the bin.
It'll just be the girls, and then some, you know,
more of the feminine guys complimenting each other
which is not a problem,
but as they're complimenting each other,
"Oh look at you, you're killing it."
And then, and then they'll even like insult me.
It went and went from being happy thought
to build up women day.
You know what I mean?
- I feel like there's a, there's a wall,
and we should break down that wall
and focus on the human rights.
Not women, not men, not Mexicans, not this.
We should all bring each other up.
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- [Interviewer] I've been anxious about my penis size.
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- I started watching pornography, I think,
around the age of 11 or 12.
And that's, you know, that's a very impressionable,
vulnerable place to be in.
So, of course, there's always these feelings
about looking at your body.
- Yeah, and I think the competition
is probably what affects me the most part,
you know, it's the the thing you're like,
I know good, well there's dudes bigger than me.
And she says it doesn't matter,
but it still plays on my mental when I wake,
when I go to sleep at night.
- Currently, I'm not really like afraid
of the size that I have
because I am kind of becoming more confident
in my body and the way that I am.
And I don't really feel like
it's going to matter nearly as much
when you're with someone for 10 years,
as you are for like a one night stand.
So I am not personally like that uncomfortable with my size.
- Everything that you just said, like it is true.
And like, you just need to become confident in,
in your own self by knowing what people really look for.
But like, it's hard to get on Netflix
and watch Euphoria, and think like,
these are like grown-ass men playing high school people.
And you think like, (beep) well,
that's not what I look like.
And then you think about like,
every person that I have been with,
or will be with, has probably seen this.
I think that's really where that anxiety comes from is
it's just the fact that
other people probably have expectations.
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- [Interviewer] I have questioned my sexuality.
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- I guess, growing up,
I was never one of like the jocks of school.
I always was into music.
I was always into theater.
And so growing up, you know, I was always bullied
because of that.
'Cause I was being too gay or whatever.
And I always hung out with the girls.
And so I definitely did kind of buy into
what everyone else was saying
in their peer pressure of like saying, "Oh, you're gay.
This is how you're gonna end up turning out
because this is how you are now."
With where I am now in my life,
I've just kind of gotten to a place
where I've grown to be confident.
I know what my identity is.
- People thinking that definitely, like,
it gets you thinking, you know, it gets you thinking like,
well (beep), like, am I?
Or should I be? You know, it's like,
should I be attracted to dudes because I like things
that are "gay", you know?
But then I guess it just reveals the issue
that like we've made certain things gay
and made certain things straight.
- Yeah. Right.
- Mine didn't stem for many kind of, like,
extra curricular activity, myself stemmed from porn
as I mentioned before,
and when I started watching trans, you know,
trans porn and it's weird to say, but, like,
I got really nervous. I got really, really nervous
'cause I thought maybe I'd be gay.
And so, you know, I did my research on it,
and I was kind of obsessed with trying to figure out, like,
what this could mean.
And all the stuff I would look up with saying like,
"If you watch trans porn, you're still straight
because they're they're women", and stuff like that.
But I'm thinking like, what would my family think?
I've never sought out, and, like,
every time I talk to one in real, a trans woman in real life
there's no, like, actual attraction there.
So I'm still lost in the fact
of what I actually am attracted to.
But I guess I am still straight 'cause they are women.
- Quite frankly, right now I feel happy with my sexuality,
and I feel that it's not wrong to question your sexuality
in terms of all in America.
Like, you're free to question whatever you want.
You can question
your religion. - Yeah.
- You can question your culture.
It's just society.
It's the things that constrains those certain things
to be what's normal and what's wrong.
- Yeah. I feel like there's such a strong stigma
to be straight, you know, like, or strong,
like, a more, like, a pushing you into it.
That even right now, I feel the desire to, like,
explain myself even though we're anonymous right now.
- Yeah. - I feel, like,
I've never been with like, I've only been
with, like, actual, like, cis women, but, like, I don't,
I know this, like, no one is judging me.
We're all here to be honest.
But it is such a stigma that from the last, you know,
18 years of my life that in this moment right now
I feel embarrassed and ashamed
for something that should just,
that's just the way it is, you know?
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- [Interviewer] I'm scared of dying.
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- I think of it as, like, I'm extremely scared of that.
I mean, I watched my father die like right before me.
It's a scary thing. They just stop breathing.
And just the idea of, like, nothing
is just extremely terrifying to me.
It's like, you don't really know what's going on.
Like, are you even thinking, are you even there?
You're just a blip out of just space.
- It is terrifying. You, we don't know.
And as a Christian, I want to pretend that, like,
I know that there's, you know, heaven and hell,
but at the end of the day, I genuinely don't know.
- Yeah. I think I was always had the fear
as a kid growing up that, you know, I'm gonna die,
and, like, not fulfill, like,
what I wanted to do here on Earth, right?
But every time I thought about dying
it was as an old person.
But two years ago when I started working as a lifeguard,
this lady and her friend came to the pool, and, you know,
I have the music going and everything.
She just starts having a seizure.
And luckily, you know, I did everything right,
and EMS showed up, and she was safe.
But then two weeks later she, unfortunately,
had another seizure while driving, and she died.
And that's when I realized life is, like,
it can happen to anyone at any point.
And if I just die and don't do anything with my life,
then that's what I'm scared of.
- I said that I don't fear death because I, unlike you guys,
I don't really have an experience,
so much hands-on experience with death.
- Am I afraid of the fact that I will die someday?
No, but I think, you know, obviously the fact
that it might come way sooner than you expect
is a scary thought.
But, like, it's the one thing that makes life, like,
special, you know what I mean?
It's the one thing I feel like
that actually gives meaning to it.
'Cause if you would never die
then you would never do anything, you know?
Yeah, 'cause you would always have more time to do it.
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- Do you guys feel like you can actually be
your genuine self when you're, like, talking to a girl
or hanging out with a girl?
- There's definitely difference between, like,
talking or opening up to like my friends that are girls
versus like a girl that I'm interested in.
- Like, obviously, if you're trying to impress a girl
you're gonna be dressed nicely.
You're gonna wear some cologne,
and you're not gonna, like, fight around her, right?
It's like, it's a filter thing.
But, like, when it comes to your mom,
like your mom's a girl, and I wholeheartedly trust my mom.
So I'm gonna be myself around the people I trust more.
- I guess that's what it is.
I just, there's a lot of times I walk away
with talking to a girl I'm really interested in,
and I'm like, "Man, I wasn't just,
I didn't just go up and be me."
And then my best friend, right?
He's or not my, he used to be my best friend.
He's kind of a womanizer,
but I see him get so much like, you know, success.
And every time I've gotten success is doing things
that he's done, which is just putting
on facade, and telling them what they want to hear.
- I think it's good to be yourself because, I mean,
you can only put a mask on for so long.
- It's refreshing to talk to people and realize that
I'm not the only one who feels a certain way about things.
It is, it's nice, and it's a step in the right direction
for me in becoming more comfortable
with being open and honest with everybody.
- I think just the whole open conversation,
like, this won't bite me in the end later
or, like, someone's not gonna listen to this and think,
"Oh, that guy's bad."
I have more safety of expressing my honest opinions
and, whether those be good opinions or bad opinions,
it's like, it's a better way to express one's true self
without trying to be influenced by what high school is.
And all the people influencing you in high school
because, frankly, high school is just popular culture.
What people think is popular.
- [Interviewer] Thank you so much.
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