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Is It Harder For A Male Model To Be Gay In The #MeToo Era?

“It’s even more of a sting when you say 'no,'" says Barrett Pall.

It's no secret models are often treated like pieces of meat. Barrett Pall, a model turned vlogger, believes gay male models may have it worst of all.

“Being gay in an industry that is run by mostly gay men, you would think that being gay isn't a problem,” writes Pall on a recent YouTube video, using the #MeToo hashtag. "I learned the hard way that being gay actually makes working as a model much harder.”

“Because it just works against you,” Pall explains in the video. “A lot of people who are in positions of power to make these big decisions about who gets cast and gets to do these amazing jobs are still afraid of Middle America’s opinions and largely their spending power.”

Pall also addresses the recent allegations of sexual misconduct made by numerous models against famed fashion photographers Bruce Weber and Mario Testino.

“I have to give huge credit to these guys who stepped forward and shared their stories,” Pall says. “When you are going into this industry, there was and there still is this underlying agreement that you will kind of do what you have to to book campaigns and work with certain photographers that will launch your career. A lot of that involves sexual acts, a lot of that involves sexual abuse, a lot of that involves things that make you highly uncomfortable and that you would never openly agree to."

“Why it’s harder being gay is that you go into these situations where these gay photographers expect you to be okay with doing these things,” Pall clarifies. “It’s even more of a sting when you say 'no,' because you’re gay and they’re gay, and you should be okay with this, and you should like this, and you should want this anyway… It makes that gay photographer really feel rejected.”

“It’s a really fucked-up system,” he continues. “I’ve met these amazingly beautiful people, on the inside and the out, who have no confidence because these people who are in positions of power have figured out a way to make you feel how they used to feel. It’s almost a sick revenge that they get, and it’s a game.”

Watch Pall's video below.

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