How many men believe that edited/photoshopped Tiktok and IG content is real?

[katie949]

It takes seconds for influencers to edit/facetune filter their face and bodytune their body, making waist narrower skin smoother etc, eyes bigger nose smaller etc…. It’s just as easy to edit videos as images.

But there are so many men who seem to simp over TikTok influencers when it’s not even the ‘real’ them… do these men really believe what they’re seeing is, well, real?

[MsJayne]

Yep, some men are a bit thick when it comes to women and will believe anything .  There's an upside to it, it helps smart women weed out the stupid men. At least, it should. Like, if you were dating some guy who sits around simping over fake images of women on the internet you should definitely cut him loose. Blathering on about how hot women are is something teenage boys do a lot of, it's a type of juvenile chest-beating. Some of them grow out of it, some don't. 

[flitzanu]

to be fair, anyone that does ANYTHING to an image before posting it onilne has therefore "edited" the photo, and would then be fake.

it's wild for a person to think they have "a shot" with "influencers" anyway in the same way that it's wild that people believe "influencers" on the internet/onlyfans/insta are somehow direct competition trying to steal their bf/gf

[basil67]

One could equally ask how many women are actively aware that all the photography in glossy women's mags is Photoshopped.   Cognitively, I know they are, but good editing doesn't stand out and I don't really think about it as I flick through

[katie949]

4 hours ago, flitzanu said:

to be fair, anyone that does ANYTHING to an image before posting it onilne has therefore "edited" the photo, and would then be fake.

it's wild for a person to think they have "a shot" with "influencers" anyway in the same way that it's wild that people believe "influencers" on the internet/onlyfans/insta are somehow direct competition trying to steal their bf/gf

No I'm not talking about men believing they have a chance with influencers (to be honest, they aren't all that in real life anyway), I'm just referring to the believing the photos are real.

Some people DO just take a photo and post it but it's rare. There's a difference between making a dark photo brighter, and filtering and facetuning a face, and photoshopping a figure to give yourself a narrower waist, abs, wider hips, smoother skin, etc. 

[katie949]

2 hours ago, basil67 said:

One could equally ask how many women are actively aware that all the photography in glossy women's mags is Photoshopped.   Cognitively, I know they are, but good editing doesn't stand out and I don't really think about it as I flick through

That's true, I think airbrushing in glossy magazines is subtle, but then the bodytuning and facetune apps are also quite sophisticated now as well. I think men are the same with Tiktok and Instagram - when they do scroll, they aren't thinking that the images/videos are not "the real person", but very enhanced, which I think can be a problem. 

[MsJayne]

This post is reminding me of one time when I had an early morning appointment at my hairdresser. There was another client in the chair beside me and she was heading to work straight afterwards so, while she waited for her colour to develop, she put her make-up on. She started out quite plain, but 45 minutes and a truckload of make-up later she was completely transformed into someone else, so it's not just the internet that allows people to lie about their appearance. Aside from that, women have been embellishing themselves since the dawn of time. I imagine the first Neanderthal chick to stick a flower in her matted hair would have set off a wave of grunting jealousy around the camp fire, and that would have been followed by the first fashion trend. I think men being shallow about women looks is possibly part of evolution and procreation, if women didn't make themselves more appealing the human population might be a lot less than it is. 

[basil67]

Pushup Bra

[MsJayne]

1 hour ago, basil67 said:

Pushup Bra

😂😂 A slippery slope that led to breast enlargements, and look where we are now. Some women have more spare parts than the bride of Frankenstein. 

[glows]

It’s part of the fantasy. Like watching anything else that’s fiction. There are people who are going to believe it’s real and want to be part of that escape. If there are people who project that image and are making money off of it it’s a business. I don’t think it’s simping. It’s buying a story and providing it is simply for profit. I think what’s interesting is you called it simping which is derogatory when I see it as purely transactional.

Do you feel impacted or threatened by these influencers? If so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. People tend to fall in love with someone that’s more than just looks for the long term. And if you do find yourself with someone buying into a story or idea that you disagree with I’m sure naturally you’d turn them away and move onto someone more compatible. 

[Els]

On 3/19/2025 at 4:53 AM, katie949 said:

It takes seconds for influencers to edit/facetune filter their face and bodytune their body, making waist narrower skin smoother etc, eyes bigger nose smaller etc…. It’s just as easy to edit videos as images.

But there are so many men who seem to simp over TikTok influencers when it’s not even the ‘real’ them… do these men really believe what they’re seeing is, well, real?

You'd be amazed how many completely AI-generated accounts have dudes drooling all over them, lol.

Some people have trouble distinguishing between reality and fantasy. It's a good way to weed out your prospects, actually - because if someone believes this, what do you think the odds are that they also believe that porn and Andrew Tate's diatribes about women are "real"?

Edited March 25 by Els

[katie949]

On 3/21/2025 at 12:34 AM, basil67 said:

Pushup Bra

Women with big boobs also wear push ups to make them sit higher up, look perkier, closer together etc....Their breasts don't naturally sit like that.

[katie949]

On 3/27/2025 at 10:46 PM, Bored Bear said:

Most of us don't, and the ones that do are dumb so who cares.

It doesn't matter anyway, they are just 2D still images. A girl that's a 7/10 irl beats a 12/10 influencer pic anyday.

Ugh, I do hate the 'rating' people out of 10. I don't see how one person can objectively be 'better' than another, by breaking their individual features (face, boobs, waist, butt, legs, etc etc) and giving a 'number'. No two people are completely equally. You can always find one woman's face better looking to you than another. Out of interest, though, what makes someone a '10'?

Anyway....the influencer with a '12/10' photo won't even be that '12/10' in real life. She might even be what you think is a '5' without all of the extra additions (lip filler, fake teeth, other fillers, tonne of make up, fake hair, photoshop, bodytune, etc etc). 

[katie949]

On 3/21/2025 at 4:02 AM, glows said:

It’s buying a story and providing it is simply for profit. I think what’s interesting is you called it simping which is derogatory when I see it as purely transactional.

Do you feel impacted or threatened by these influencers? If so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. People tend to fall in love with someone that’s more than just looks for the long term. And if you do find yourself with someone buying into a story or idea that you disagree with I’m sure naturally you’d turn them away and move onto someone more compatible. 

But that 'story' (the fake, filtered/photoshopped/bodytuned/etc....there must be hundreds of editing apps) is damaging to a lot of young peoples' self image.  I don't think that idolising fake images is a positive thing. 

I don't feel 'threatened' because, not to sound arrogant, I think a lot of young women are more naturally attractive than many of these influencers who will never post anything that is truly them!

[katie949]

On 3/21/2025 at 12:28 AM, MsJayne said:

This post is reminding me of one time when I had an early morning appointment at my hairdresser. There was another client in the chair beside me and she was heading to work straight afterwards so, while she waited for her colour to develop, she put her make-up on. She started out quite plain, but 45 minutes and a truckload of make-up later she was completely transformed into someone else, so it's not just the internet that allows people to lie about their appearance. .... I think men being shallow about women looks is possibly part of evolution and procreation, if women didn't make themselves more appealing the human population might be a lot less than it is. 

Oh, make up (and especially a lot of it) can do a lot. It can only go so far, but it can do a lot. It still isn't quite as transforming as a filter or editing app though. 

I know that make up has existed for thousands of years and people have 'embellished' themselves, but that is nowhere near like the AI stuff we have now. A cave woman could not have altered her natural appearance to anything like the degree people can now. 

There's a difference between being shallow about looks and believing in fakery online (we all want to date someone we find attractive, it's natural, and men are probably are more visual). It is possible to like less fake women, but not sure how many men do. 

[basil67]

7 hours ago, katie949 said:

Women with big boobs also wear push ups to make them sit higher up, look perkier, closer together etc....Their breasts don't naturally sit like that.

My point is that the guys are drooling over something which is not real.  It just happens to be in everyday life rather than online

As an aside, I am F cup and can tell you that any extra padding makes it even more impossible to find nice clothes which fit well.  A quality bra from a qualified fitter will make the girls behave without extra padding.   Also, I've never seen a pushup F cup bra  

[MsJayne]

8 hours ago, katie949 said:

There's a difference between being shallow about looks and believing in fakery online

Yes, true, but I’d argue that anyone, male or female, who believes the fakery that abounds on the internet is probably as dumb as a box of rocks generally, and women are just as guilty as men. How many women buy clothes or beauty products because some vapid twit online, someone who presents a completely false image, tells them to? These dumba***s are the people who influencers love, because they have limited critical thinking skills, limited ability to discern, and they observe everything at surface level only. That’s what being shallow is all about. 
May I ask why you’re questioning this particular stream of mass human stupidity? If you’re concerned about the wide-reaching effects of shallowness in humanity and wondering where it will lead, refer to the fall of the Roman Empire. Devoid of electronic devices the vain, shallow Romans had to rely on statues and busts to post images of themselves everywhere, and you can bet that the stone mason was always told to chisel away any ugly bits, the Late Middle Ages answer to Photoshop. The Romans preoccupation with themselves, the hedonism, the narcissism, the hubris,  (same as what’s happening right now thanks to social media fostering shallowness on a global level), led to the collapse of their society, so you’re right to be concerned. 
 

[FredEire]

A lot of men get off on the fantasy of some idealised woman. It's not that they don't have the capacity to see it's fake, but they want to believe it so much that they let the fantasy bypass the reality.