(Screenshot via YouTube.)

Short film “American Male,” winner of MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition, examines the detrimental nature of internalized homophobia. The competition required up-and-coming filmmakers to focus on the topic of privilege.

The film, directed by Michael Rohrbaugh, follows a frat boy who is working overtime to present as hyper-masculine. Shots of the college student performing stereotypical masculine activities such as working out, attending frat parties and drinking beer are shown throughout.

In a voice-over the student explains how he has carefully crafted his persona to appear as masculine as possible and schools the viewer on the behaviors of women and men. At one point he explains how women gesture more and that as a child he would gesture a lot, but trains himself to stop.

“Order beer. Not wine. And beef, not chicken. Never light beer, though. And no tofu. Can’t get more gay than tofu,” he says.

Living life isn’t easy for the student as he is shown struggling with attraction to his fellow frat brother and overall unhappiness at supressing his identity.

In an interview with Huffington Post, Rohrbaugh explained the message of the film.

“I would like for viewers to gain a better understanding of what life feels like in the closet. I also hope they’ll reflect upon their own lives and think about falsehoods that might be holding them back,” Rohrbaugh says.

“So many of the social norms we’ve been taught are rooted in discrimination, and so many young people are taught to feel ashamed of who they are, raised to believe that there’s something wrong with them, that they’re not normal or not who they should be. Those types of lies are really destructive, which is why they must be exposed and debunked,” Rohrbaugh continued.

Watch “American Male” below.