As I’m sure you’ve seen across social media, there has once again been an ad created that has created a ton of controversy. At first, I had no clue what people were talking about, so I went and watched the ad myself. Let’s just say I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a nude Sydney Sweeney in an ad about ‘sports.’
Now I am all for empowering women’s bodies, especially female athletes. There is already such a stigma surrounding what a women’s body should look like. There is so much hate towards women who have bigger, more muscular bodies. The empowerment that comes along with being confident in your body is something that women have worked so hard to reach, and unfortunately society is still experiencing setbacks every day. This ad is yet another piece of media circling around the fact that women are continuously objectified for their bodies.
There are a lot of people that claim this ad doesn’t objectify female athletes, and that it is just an ad targeted around the male gaze to get them to use this website for sports gambling. The critics are incorrect: it doesn’t matter if they had no intentions of insulting female athletes–that’s what they did. No matter how hard women fight for equal rights, we keep getting set back. No one is able to understand how hard it is to be a female athlete until you are a women dealing with misogynistic, insulting, degrading men. To be frank, at this point it isn’t even just men, there are now so many women who hate and judge other women for their bodies. I think their reactions to this ad might just be the worst part.
Women have continued to try and prove why they belong in sports for years; why is it that society continues to make athlete’s bodies the entire story?? Some people have claimed that the ad was funny, it was attention-grabbing, and that is was provocative; let’s just say most females everywhere were disgusted. Speaking as a former athlete, I was absolutely disgusted that this ad was approved and nobody saw anything wrong with it. I could go on and on about the lengths women have had to go through to try and be taken seriously. We are so much more than our bodies, and we are so much more than an appearance that is being used to sell product.
We reached a point where society was beginning to see female athletes for what they were: athletes. Now, we’re going backwards and are receiving more attention than ever for the wrong thing. We’re tired. We’re tired of finally accepting that society may feel a certain way about how we look. We’re allowed to feel confident, feminine, masculine, sexy, or whatever else we want to be. So, why are we putting those images in a sports ad, barely even making it actually about sports, and using equipment as a prop to hide a nude body?
The problem isn’t specifically Sydney Sweeney, it’s the distinction that truly matters. No one is saying female athletes can’t portray their body how they want, because that’s not the issue. The problem is that this specific portrayal of the female body over-sexualizes women and harms the argument that female athletes don’t exist for the male gaze. We’re already fighting to be taken seriously and our accomplishments are constantly being talked about in the same sentence as our appearance. The constant undermining of the hard work that female athletes have to put into their work is beyond frustrating and completely disrespectful.
It’s taken so long for women’s sports to have their moment. Leagues like Athletes Unlimited Softball League, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League are seeing record-breaking attendees, increased tv coverage, and a huge increase in fan bases. This goes to show that this attention has been long overdue. Sydney Sweeney being in this ad didn’t completely erase all the decades of progress, and she isn’t the only one responsible, but it is intriguing to think about her role in this whole thing. The company behind the ad is the most to blame and it just goes to show that what companies decide to show their audience tells us a lot about them. They know what will get the most traction and attention. What’s insulting and degrading is the fact that apparently it’s still okay to use a woman’s body to get attention.
At the end of the day, the brutal truth is that men will never understand what it is like to be a female, let alone a female athlete. No one understands the amount of time, and hard work it takes to take care of our bodies and train it for competition. Women shouldn’t have to decide between wanting to be taken seriously or being feminine for the male gaze. It is so beyond overdue that society, specifically men and those in the advertisement industry to catch up; we’re so much more than our bodies, and we will continue to fight for the much needed respect, appreciation, and distinction we deserve.