I’m sure many of you have seen the Sydney Sweeney sports gambling ad. When I saw this ad for the first time, it got me thinking about gender roles in society and a lot of topics discussed in our class.
It’s more marketable to have a topless woman holding footballs saying she knows sports rather than showing a female athlete. The line “You think you know sports? Prove it” felt like a this is how we get men to gamble. This is the only way women in sports could be appealing to men.
An advertising team thought that this was the only way to have a woman in a sports gambling ad because the only thing a woman can bring to the conversation of sports is her ability to please those interested through looking dolled up or scantily dressed. Look at how cheerleaders are associated with male-dominated sports and not their female counterparts. Women cheering on men in outfits designed by men to please men, on the fields or in the stands.
The ad was understandable and justifiable enough that it went through a writers’ room, filming, and multiple approvals, with no one questioning whether this could upset women who dedicate their lives to sports and who are dominant in them. Or how this misrepresentation undermines the validity of female sports. Or how women can be and are represented in sports or in relation to sports that don’t include their bodies or the sexualization of their bodies.
Is this how America views women in athletics?
Female athletes have been struggling with sexualization in their sports since there was such a thing as women in sports. The uniforms were either designed to show off their bodies in a revealing way or were designed for male bodies, and women need to rip them up to fit comfortably.
It makes me think about how women’s professional wrestling in the 90s was a comedy show to belittle strong female athletes by putting them in skimpy clothing, making them kiss their bosses or each other, or being thrown into mud pits.
Is this how America sees women in sports? Is this the only way women could possibly be linked to sports?
Women have spent years trying to be seen for the strength of their bodies, not the sexualization of them. It’s crazy how the body can be the source of your athletic talent but also undermine your profession. The body is a double-edged sword.
That’s not a sport, it’s just a female dominated sport. A trend going around right now that depicts all the sports that are contested my the society if they are really sports, like cheerleading, dance, ballet, gymnastics, figure skating,
“Penis points” given by those in the field because these men continued to stay in dance or cheer. We have to motivate their interest, and by doing so, it undermines all the women who do it every day with no flowers given for their blood, sweat, and tears. It is easy for a woman to do these things I guess. Men have to work twice as hard. We can’t have female dominated spaces without the inclusion of men in some way. It makes it better. Possibly gets more audiences. I am so sick of this double standard. I am so tired of women who face impossible obstacles to get into amel dominated sports but men are rewarded for being in womens.
“You throw like a girl” because a girl’s athleticism is inherently inferior to that of a boy. And it’s not just when you’re young and can’t throw a ball well, but it is in the definition of all women, no matter their athletic ability, agility, or interests. Like the Throwing Like a Girl article said, this mentality is “the manifestation of a biological difference”. And this difference sticks with you and is pushed on you long after girlhood. It is something that many women, but highlighted in this specific blog post, female athletes must constantly fight against to be true to their own determined definition of themselves and their worth.
To be more than what their biological and patriarchal definition is. More than the social construct of gender definitions. More than their beauty, sexuality, and feminity.
I liked how this article emphasized that gender is a construct to categorize and group people. We all as humans are unique through our individual experiences but we have shared experiences through experiencing different stereotypes, discrimination, standards, and etc. from our gender, race, ethnicity, ability.
There are many women that enjoy living within the traditional definition of femininity and have privilege in that. And there is no inherent issue with women expressing themselves in this manner. However, because of structures and expectations within society many women think they can’t be any more than this definition or differ from in any way. And through advertisements like those in the 60s that say women are meant to stay in the kitchen and be a good housewife in order to live a fulfilling lives or modern ones like that of Sydney Sweeney that create this idea that women must be sexualized to talk about or be in male dominated sports, the traditional definition of femininity can be so damaging to those who want to differ from it.
It undermines masc women, trans women, women in law or the medical field because it perpetuates that femininity equals sexualization. It pigeonholes the definition of a woman. It undermines the women in male dominated professions, spheres, and spaces including male dominated sports and any sport.
This is no hate to Sydney Sweeney. I just think about how I can assume a woman didn’t come up with this ad idea, didn’t tell her to take her top off, or pose her topless on a pool ball table. She was an object to male subjects and male audiences.
Because this is what men think is our status quo. This is what society sees women as, especially in sports.
I really liked this post because it underscores how women’s bodies can be treated as both a tool for celebration and a tool for decoration, especially in sports. The Sydney Sweeney ad stood out to me for this reason. In my opinion, the ad is offensive because it relies on the sexual appeal of a woman’s body to attract a predominantly male sports audience rather than recognizing women’s bodies for their athletic ability. It almost sends the message that men will be interested in a woman talking about sports only if her body is presented in a sexualized way.
What makes this especially frustrating is that women’s bodies are obviously capable of much more than being looked at. Women do not just participate in sports; they perform them at incredibly high levels. Yet, instead of using a female athlete or showing a woman demonstrating knowledge or skill in sports, the advertisement uses the female body almost as decoration around a traditionally male-dominated space. I think this connects really well to your point about the body being a “double-edged sword.” For female athletes, the body is the very thing that allows them to demonstrate their strength, skill, endurance, and athleticism, but society can simultaneously reduce that same body to its appearance and sex appeal.
YES! I completely agree with you. I feel like we have stepped into a time machine with these ads recently. Or maybe I’m just now old enough to see it. Between the ad you’re discussing and the golf one where the guy pushes the girl because she touched his club. As a society people are getting more overt about discrimination again and it’s scary. Women’s sports are always sexualized or deemed less intresting and it makes no sense to me. These women often work harder to get where they are, why are they not as intresting? Because they are not for the male gaze? Are their revealing uniforms being used by the industry to attract attention?
This was a really powerful post, and I loved how you connected it to what’s going on today, especially the Sydney Sweeney ad and the backwards influencer culture around it. Your tie-in to “Throwing Like a Girl” was amazing, because that was the reading I immediately thought of when you started the post. Ads like this truly set us back. People talk about female empowerment, but how is it empowering when it happens in spaces where people don’t want us, or don’t take us seriously? I believe people have every right to be nude, but when Sydney Sweeney is nude in an ad about sports, I don’t think we can call that empowerment. It just sets us back. Look at the WNBA salary debate. Viewership matters, but because of these misconceptions, many people won’t even give the league a chance. It’s disheartening that female athletes mostly get attention when they’re seen as societally attractive. Thank you for bringing awareness to this topic. It was a beautiful post.
I really enjoyed your post! I also found that ad very disturbing, as even after all the progress society has made, it still uses old methods to display women. The ad still uses women as props to draw men in, like they’re some mystical lure or attainable item. Sweeny doesn’t even have any relevance to sports or gambling; instead of using a player or a commentator, they still choose to lean on provocation instead.
I think this ad also speaks on the nature of sports gambling as a whole. These companies aren’t looking to provide casual fun; they want to suck you dry of everything you own. There’s no pure intention behind any of it; the house never loses, and this ad shows more: they just want eyes, attention, and new users more than anything else.