Sydney Sweeney and the Continued Disrespect of the Female Athlete

Sydney Sweeney, donning a catcher’s mask as part of her new ad campaign with startup sports prediction market, Novig. The campaign is not Sweeney’s first commercial to draw controversy from the media. (Weber/HalftoneMag)

Sydney Sweeney ended up in the news again for a controversial ad. Instead of dawning a pair of American Eagles jeans and proclaiming to the world: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” (with many pointing to the fact that jeans is a clear homophone to genes). It was what Sweeney wasn’t wearing that became the issue.

The advertisement is for a startup sports prediction market called Novig, and if they wanted to make a statement, they did just that. On screen is a scantily clad Sweeney, dawning various sports gear covering up the parts of her body a TV audience is not allowed to see. 

The campaign sparked massive amounts of backlash online, with various female athletes like Ariarne Titmus condemning the ad.

Many of the shots shown of Sweeney are highly sexual in nature and most highlight the lack of clothing being worn. (Weber/HalftoneMag) 

I’m not here to rehash this discussion that occurred over two weeks ago. Instead, I want to talk about the state of the present media landscape we are in, and how this advertisement perfectly encapsulates how we, as a society, falsely claim progress in the fight for respect for women. This isn’t just about female athletes, this encapsulates disrespect and disregard of decades of progress for the women’s empowerment movement.

Female athletes have long struggled with the sexualization of their bodies, and women in general live in a world that tries to dictate what they should wear. Sweeney and Novig knew what statement they were making with this advertisement, and it was a sad reminder for women, and particularly athletes, that there are still organizations out there that view them as objects to appeal to the (predominantly) male gaze.

This commercial is a direct contradiction to the supposed progressive changes society has made in the last 10-20 years. However I must ask, how truly progressive have we become? The leader of our nation was infamously found liable by a federal civil jury for sexual assault, and yet, we lead ourselves to believe we are a nation that treats and respects women the same they do for men.

Sweeney took to her Instagram story to defend the ad campaign, which only led to more backlash. (Weber/HalftoneMag)

Novig and Sweeney did a good job reminding us that, for how far we have come, women, especially professional athletes, are still struggling with systemic issues that were around long before Sweeney was ever a blip on the Hollywood radar.

For me, it’s disheartening to see a woman willingly take part in putting down female athletes while simultaneously trying to paint it as a body appreciation statement. Sweeney took to her Instagram story to post prior inclusions in ESPN’s The Body Issue, a magazine that has included both male and female athletes in nude and semi-nude poses.

To compare the Sweeney Novig ad to the work ESPN does with The Body Issue is laughable and, once again, disregards the progress that women and female athletes have made. The Body Issue is a celebration of the athlete and their body, while the Novig ad is a commercialization of the female body for the sole purpose of promoting a sports gambling website.

However, that commercial is still running to this day, serving as a reminder to women everywhere that no matter how much progress we claim to have made in the women’s empowerment movement, there are still companies, organizations, and people that look at them as objects of sexual desire.

Even if it is one company or person that does it, that is one too many.