Just Sports?

Last summer model and actress Sydney Sweeney caused quite the controversy when she made an ad for American Eagle with the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” Now this was intended as a double entendre meaning Sydney Sweeney makes American Eagle’s jeans look great as well as Sydney Sweeney is a beautiful woman (she has great genes). It was a harmless play on words but of course people’s heads exploded saying she was a Nazi because of her light complexion, her blonde hair and her blue eyes. When it came out that Sydney Sweeney was also registered as (gasp!) a Republican people lost their minds. See, when a conventionally attractive woman shows off her beauty like this it could go two ways. Either the woman is celebrating body positivity (as was the case when Lizzo showed off her body) or she’s objectifying women. And apparently that’s what Sydney Sweeney is doing.

So this summer she did it again when she starred in an ad for Novig sports betting. If her American Eagle ad was like dipping a toe in the river of sexuality, this ad is like diving headfirst off the dock. She is naked except for a pair of underwear at certain times. She poses with different sports equipment covering her body (ex. Two footballs “covering” two very large breasts). It’s kind of an addicting ad. I’ve watched it maybe four times so far? 

So how did people react? Did they say “Hey, that’s pretty cool. That’s a woman owning her beauty and her body” Of course not. Women athletes were infuriated saying Sydney Sweeney was objectifying women and that she was setting the feminist movement back. I don’t think a few footballs are going to set the feminist movement back, especially when Only Fans is a thing. These athletes felt that Sydney Sweeney was making a mockery of actual sports. But Sydney Sweeney is not actually playing sports nor does the ad discuss women in sports. It is a betting organization for people (presumably men who like half naked women) to bet on sports.  Not compete in them. And as Sydney Sweeney says in the ad, it is purely sports. No wars, deaths or politics which can be a refreshing change. 

I chalk it up to people being jealous of a thin, blonde, aesthetically pleasing, Republican woman looking so good. I can see people put off by the overt sexuality of the ad but if you are fine with nudity, female sexuality in the media and it is Sydney Sweeney in particular that bothers you i’m going to have to say you are a hypocrite. It is her body, she can do what she wants. Just because she says “sports” a million times in the ad does not mean she is actually playing them. Another point I will touch on briefly is that the same people who think the ad is unfair to female athletes are also okay with letting biological men into women’s professional sports. I’m not going to share my own opinions on that but the correlation is interesting.

What do you think? Are you the kind of person who thinks its cool when a naked girl balances a soccer ball on the bottom of her feet? Do you like seeing a girl in briefs swing a tennis racket? Or is this just a whole hot mess and girls should keep their clothes on? Does this really affect women’s sports? Or is the whole thing just blown out of proportion? Let me know in the comments.