# Sydney Sweeney's Nude Sports Ad: Empowering or Sexist?

- URL: https://twotakes.us/stories/sydney-sweeneys-nude-sports-ad-empowering-or-sexist
- Published: 2026-09-15T19:13:45.421924+00:00
- Topics: sydney-sweeney, advertising, women-in-sports, gender, celebrity-culture

## What the left says
- Female athletes across multiple countries say the ad reduces women's sports to physical appearance rather than skill, teamwork, or achievement, undermining decades of work to be taken seriously as competitors.
- Critics point to statistics showing 64% of girls drop out of sport before age 16, arguing that ads emphasizing looks over athletic ability reinforce the very barriers that discourage girls from participating.
- Athletes like Ariarne Titmus and Amy Hunt frame their objections as coming from lived experience of being sexualized throughout their careers despite dedicating their lives to their craft.
- The concern is less about nudity itself and more about context — a betting company using a non-athlete's body to sell a product trades on sexuality rather than sport, which feels different from athletes choosing to celebrate their own bodies in outlets like the ESPN Body Issue.

## What the right says
- Sweeney is a private citizen and equity holder in Novig who chose to participate in a cheeky ad campaign, and criticism of her body autonomy is seen as hypocritical coming from athletes who have posed in similarly revealing content themselves.
- Defenders note a long tradition of athletes, including Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe, and Ronda Rousey, posing nude for publications like ESPN's Body Issue without facing comparable backlash, suggesting a double standard is at play.
- Many view the outrage as manufactured or overblown, pointing out that despite the criticism, Sweeney only lost a small fraction of her more than 25 million Instagram followers.
- Some see the backlash as part of a broader pattern of media and cultural figures singling out Sweeney for criticism regardless of what she does, framing this as another example of that dynamic.

## Common ground
- The Novig ad features Sydney Sweeney nude but strategically covered with sports equipment, promoting a sports prediction/betting platform in which she holds equity.
- Multiple prominent female athletes, including Amy Hunt, Ariarne Titmus, and Gracie Kramer, publicly criticized the ad as sexualizing women in sports.
- Sweeney responded by highlighting past instances of athletes posing nude for outlets like ESPN's Body Issue, implicitly questioning why her ad drew different treatment.
- The debate touches on a shared concern for how young girls perceive role models in sports, even if people disagree on whether this ad helps or harms that goal.

## Sources
- [RedState](https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2026/09/15/sydney-sweeney-sends-the-feminist-sports-brigade-into-a-frenzy-then-drops-a-brutal-reality-check-n2206933) (Unknown)
- [AllSides](https://www.allsides.com/news/2026-09-15-0700/culture-sydney-sweeney-advert-sparks-backlash-female-athletes-what-women-sport-look) (Center)
- [AllSides](https://www.allsides.com/news/2026-09-15-0700/culture-what-women-sport-look-female-athletes-hit-back) (Center)
- [AllSides](https://www.allsides.com/news/2026-09-15-0700/culture-sydney-sweeney-fires-back-trolls-after-facing-criticism-online-provocative-sports-ad) (Center)
- [BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/articles/cr780v5361j0o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss) (Center)
- [Blaze Media](https://www.theblaze.com/lifestyle/sydney-sweeney-nude-ad-reactions) (Right)
- [Breitbart](https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/15/sydney-sweeney-loses-more-than-200000-instagram-followers-after-nude-sports-ad-backlash/) (Right)
- [Daily Wire](https://www.dailywire.com/news/sydney-sweeney-hits-back-at-nude-sports-ad-outrage-without-saying-a-word) (Right)

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