Sydney Sweeny Naked Advert - athletes reaction correct or an over reaction that gives the advert a lot more publicity?

[mids2019]

Personally I think a naked actress with sports equipment is a bit tacky and obviously aimed at men but I don't know if it was a massive affront to women athletes? Sydney wasn't pretending to be an athlete and the athletics paraphernalia was to advertise sports betting......not my cup of tea but I don't see how it was diminishing womens sport really

If the photographers are taking shots that differ to those of the men, and focus on bottoms, breasts, or crotches in a way they don't for the men, that's entirely unacceptable.

But I do think that, given it's sport, everyone is wearing very little and contorting/leaping about, and the focus is their physical prowess and what their bodies are doing, it could be difficult to photograph them without taking shots that – in other contexts – could be considered inappropriate?

But then, I don't know how the photos compare to those they take of the men. If there's a difference there, it's misogyny of course.

I think it's a difficult one and a bit subjective in terms of what could be called an inappropriate or sexualized shot especially when it comes to a woman in athletic equipment with no risk of wardrobe malfunction. How do you cover a female judo match for instance if you seen certain body contortions as 'sexualised'. Gymnastics is another example where you could define certain routines as having some element of specialisation again dependent on viewer opinion. Good luck showing a women s rugby scrum perhaps?

I personally think this puts a lot of restriction on camera people who may inadvertently contravene guidelines in the case of fast moving sports. It does more like a gesture than something more meaningful.

I was specifically referring to athletics where the clothes between men and women do differ. They are not required to, but they do. The photographers and camera operators have been asked to not to photo the women in “unflattering” situations. They know the skimpy bikini bottoms/running pants may well be unflattering in the long jump pit or over the high jump. But they blame the camera operators. It’s clearly not an acceptable view point.

Men in athletics? Remember “the lunchbox”? Women make comments too. The photos of Mondo going over a pole vault bar are the same as a woman doing the same event. The idea is to show the athletic event, but bodies on show are part of it if women wear skimpy pants. Ditto high jump, long jump and triple jump. Women can end up in an unflattering position but it’s identical to the men! The difference is what they wear!

That’s what was happening. female athletes were far more likely to be portrayed in a sexualised or objectified way.
Female athletes complained and guidelines had to be introduced.

Women can wear what they like and should be able to do so without being sexualised. If the person has to choose a different angle for women then so what? There are plenty to choose from and that’s their job.

Stop blaming women for men’s behaviour.

Have you read the guidelines that have been introduced?
They outline why this is important and needed to be introduced.
Female athletes are 10x more likely to filmed in sexualised or objectifying way. And it’s not only the images during the event, it’s what people (men) do with them afterwards. It’s the stills, the slow motion videos and memes which are created for sexual harassment and/or humiliation of these women. Images that have been used from footage of them simply just doing their job.

This is the lived experience of these women which you’re trying to minimise or deny.
There are female athletes who are fighting against the sexualisation of women’s sport. This is a battle male athletes just don’t have.

If she was fat then you’s criticising would be empowering her and saying she was an inspiration to women. The jealousy at this point is just cringeworthy 🫣

no one cried when when Serena did it.

I’m not jealous of SS. And you’ve no proof anyone speaking out is either.
it’s just projection from you at this point.

Leave off, sure you ain’t.

Not all women are jealous of other women.

It's a misogynistic trope that women are constantly competing for male attention and are jealous of other women being admired. Most women, especially older women, don't give two fucks

Indeed. There is a difference in being able to acknowledge that someone is attractive( which is subjective anyway) and being jealous.

As a woman in my 40's I'm comfortable in who I am and don't feel the need to compete for attention.

Exactly.

Let's face it, it's not difficult to get male attention. Any moderately attractive young woman with a decent body, which is all Sydney Sweeney is once you take away all the hype, won't struggle for male attention. I was that woman once. Yes, the attention was nice but now that I'm older I manage fine without it. Male attention is not a scarce resource, but it is a fleeting one. SS is doing well to make the most of it, because in 3 years tops the menz will be on to the next non threatening blonde with big tits. And there is no shortage of them out there.

Maybe not but that’s how it comes across. The woman did an ad and at no point was she trying to come across as an athlete or sports person, she was simply appearing in a gambling ad, and then the suppose women’s women’s feminist types came out accusing her of setting them back in sports and when it doesn’t make sense because she never claimed to be a sportsperson you’ve got to assume that it’s jealousy because that’s all you can put it down too.

Only if you're taking a simplistic view of the situation and not attempting to understand why some female athletes might have an issue with this.
It's quite lazy IMO to jump straight to 'they must be jealous'.

Well that is exactly why she was chosen because of how she looks

Surely we should have moved on from this its mocking women in sport

But it’s unlikely a beautiful man would have been mocked on the same way.
I agree it’s mocking women in sport . It’s just disappointing that it’s always women getting ragged on

No it’s very easy to get to “she’s jealous” when athletes and sportsfolk have actually done the same naked advertising shoots but no one’s up in arms about those people. Is it because they aren’t particularly pretty or sexy? Who knows but I can’t stand the contradicting types.

When's the last time you saw a 'beautiful man' holding a baseball over his dick as part of an advertising campaign?

Can you signpost me to a female athlete who has done a naked advertising shoot and is also criticising this campaign?
Because yes, that would be hypocritical. However, if you are treating all female athletes as one hive mind then I stand by my point about you taking a very simplistic view of the situation.

Erm..you’ll find a few here

Check the date. Seems the 'last time' was at least 15 years ago.

Hasty googling isn't always your friend.

https://www.businessinsider.com/espn-body-issue-2011-9

@MickyMoonshine here you go

Makes absolutely no difference when it was. Oh actually I forgot 2026 is Karen’s cancel culture 😬 oh to go back in time with the sane people.

Whilst this is true, how is Ms Sweeney's ad really different to shirtless men being used to sell fancy perfume? There's a fair few ads like that.