Is it true that straight guys will stare at anything as long as it’s wearing yoga pants? If this video is to be believed, the answer is yes. Youseff Saleh Erakat, who goes by the moniker FouseyTube, pulls the kind of Candid Camera stunts that YouTube seems custom-made to facilitate. It’s mostly a prank — I would argue that YouTube is Punk’d for the Internet generation — but there’s more than a kernel of truth in what Erakat uncovered. Here’s how it went down:
Erakat prefaces the video by explaining, “A friend of mine recently told me that I had no idea how hard it is being a girl, because when she wears leggings, everybody stares at her butt. So today, I’m going to find out exactly how hard it is.” So in the name of science (or, y’know, the name of Ashton Kutcher), he donned a pair of leggings, set up a camera, and set the scene by rummaging around in his car’s trunk or the passenger side door, arse to the wind. He experienced plenty of ogling, and every time he caught someone at it, he’d pop his head up, revealing that he’s a dude, and ask, “Were you staring at my butt?”
Most of the guys he caught were embarrassed, although it’s anyone’s guess as to whether it was because they had been caught staring, or because they had been caught staring at another guy’s butt, or because this guy approached them kinda aggressively and they were caught off guard. Some were grossed out. And perhaps most bizarrely, some were angry, physically going after Erakat in retaliation. The whole thing ended up being as much a comment on homophobia as one on sexism and street harassment.
My favorite reaction is the guy at about the one-minute mark who answers “Yeah” to Erakat’s question. When asked why he was staring, he says, unapologetically, “You have a nice ass!” It’s true that he might just have been playing Erakat at his own game, but the fact that he was able to respond as such gives me hope that everything might not be as dire as it seems.
But don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourselves:
Image: FouseyTube/Youtube
