Sydney Sweeney cannot escape talking about her own sexualization
Sydney Sweeney calls unwanted sexual attention "disgusting and unfair," while hoping to use her experiences in Euphoria's third season
Aux News Sydney Sweeney
Sydney Sweeney is rising to the forefront of her generation in terms of talent (see: her rare coup of being nominated for both Euphoria and The White Lotus at this year’s Emmys). Of course, no one can ever be normal about that, particularly because she’s a beautiful young woman. In nearly every interview, the actor is forced to walk a fine line between bemoaning the glaring attention of our hypersexualized culture and expressing the right amount of gratitude for her good fortune.
Such is the case in a new interview with GQ, in which she reflects that even as a schoolgirl she “felt ostracized” when she developed boobs before other girls in her class. “I think that I put on this weird persona other people had of me because of my body,” she muses. “So I did play every sport and I studied really hard and I did everything that people wouldn’t think I would do, to show them that my body doesn’t define who I am.”
It’s a feeling she carries with her today, “but now it’s on a whole-world scale.” She’s understandably uncomfortable with the way fans have pored over her Euphoria nudity: “It got to the point where they were tagging my family. My cousins don’t need that. It’s completely disgusting and unfair,” Sweeney says. “You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being a sexualized person at school and then an audience that does the same thing.”
There’s a lot of overlap between the experiences of Sweeney and her Euphoria character, as when Cassie, too, realizes people around her are beginning to view her body differently. “I think everyone goes through their own experience of that. It almost feels like a power,” she says. And while Sweeney seems to know that this power is more of a curse than a blessing, it is something she’d like to see explored in the show’s third season: “There was a moment there when Cassie started learning how to manipulate Nate. I think it would be fun to play into that power she learned she had.”
So far, the overwhelming spotlight on her (and her body) has not deterred Sweeney from climbing Hollywood’s ladder—at least, “Not anymore.” She defiantly states, “I think it’s ridiculous. I’m an artist, I play characters. It makes me want to play characters that piss people off more.”
138 Comments
“I am so oppressed by the hyper-sexualization that I have been an active participant in, reaping the rewards of fame and riches beyond the average person’s wildest dreams in large part because of it!!!”How about instead of complaining you use your entitled privilege to actually do something about it from the inside? Otherwise, you’re every bit as guilty in promoting unhealthy body image as “the industry”.Fuck outta here with this performative bullshit.
This is like when Paulina Porizkova complains how hard it is to be an old supermodel. She had no problem enjoying the spoils when she was younger, but now wants things to be equal that she isn’t hot anymore.
It’s much, much easier and cheaper to just make vague statements about society.Then go do another Maxim shoot and call it a day.
This x 1000!
Is this photo shoot supposed to be proof that it’s okay to harass women or something?
Its proof that its ok to motorboat those jubblies, slide the panties off and put that phone and bulb to use.
DAMN! Great find, friend. Muchas gracias
There is nothing wrong with sexuality. People don’t have to be creeps about it.
“Fuck outta here with this performative bullshit.”Says the anonymous internet person hiding behind a pre-generated pixelated icon with no skin in the game.
since you ask so nicely she’ll stop now
Another confused dude who thinks women having the right to dress however they want means they should just accept men sexualizing them
Facts lmao she did a erotic Netflix movie where she’s butt naked and now she’s complaining?
Fun fact: You can enjoy watching her naked in movies without harassing her.
Fun fact: 1+1=2
What is that device she’s holding?
An Emmy nomination for White Lotus? She was fine in it, but it didn’t seem like top-tier Emmy material like her other nominated role. More power to her though. I’d have preferred Mike White re-casting her for season two instead of Coolidge’ stoner character.
Her character isn’t in Season 2.
I know. I said I’d have preferred Sweeney returning over Coolidge. Not that either would make any narrative sense, but I like Sweeney and she’s a better actress.
I think they’re saying they would have preferred *her* to have carried over into S2 rather than Coolidge’s character.
It’s the Emmys. It’s almost never about quality, but more about popularity.
Poor girl, people see her naked all the time and she HAS NO CONTROL over it. It isn’t like she took a job where she’s whipping them out every chance she gets.WHY WON’T PEOPLE STOP SEXUALIZING HER??????
Fucked up to for people to do that? Sure. Unfair, no. There are women far less attractive than her that would like act in roles but can’t get them because they aren’t as pretty than her, some maybe even more talented if giving the opportunity. But they couldn’t even get in the door because of genetics.
Reminds me of those episodes in the first season where they focus on each character specifically. Cassie’s scenes as a preteen getting leered at by all the creepy uncles and neighborhood dudes with the camera down at POV level were eye-opening.
Eyes werent the only thing they opened.
Hard to agree or disagree without a link. But hard nonetheless
Wow…my heart bleeds for her and her whole MAGA camp family that supports sexualizing young women into being nothing more but breeders with limited rights.
That’s right. Raping MAGA bitches is perfectly fine. Stay woke!
Third-wave feminism leaned into being hot and/or sexy as a power. The current generation of young women seems to see beauty, particularly being well-endowed, as exclusively a curse (also see Milana Vayntrub). I assume social media is the root cause of that.
How do you reconcile what you’re saying with the rise of sites like OnlyFans? Or any Instagram account of an attractive woman? A lot of them seem pretty unashamed.
Assuming that all women (or any group) share the same opinion is a bit silly. Also, my read of the article is the she is speaking less about her sexuality, but rather other (shitty) people’s (shitty) reaction to it. To the OP’s point, social media is the root cause, simply because it gives voice to the worst urges of the worst people. See also: politics.
“Assuming that all women (or any group) share the same opinion is a bit silly.”YES YES JESUS CHRIST YESWhen did we become so stupid, that we think everyone is saying the same thing? Or that one person speaks for everyone?It’s created this inescapable trap in conversation. “Women think this” or “men think this”… all it takes is ONE exception to prove that (literally) ridiculous statement wrong. Yet if you point out the error in the math, you’re a monster.
If we can’t speak accurately, we can’t share a reality… and if we can’t share a reality, we’ll shrivel up as a species. Humans are social animals. If we can’t even agree on simple math (1 =/= 100) then we’re fucked.
He nails it with the social media closing argument. Now there’s a megaphone for people with every opposing viewpoint on women’s sexuality to scream at each other in real-time on a public forum, consistently giving internet media something to stir the shit with. Progress!
I guess I haven’t really gotten the sense that most younger women view their sexuality as a curse, exclusively or even mostly. That’s different, maybe even diametrically opposite, from not wanting to be shamed for it.Also, I think you can argue that social media had an exacerbating effect, but…to say that something 15-20 years old is the “root cause” of women being shamed for their sexuality is literally thousands of years off.
It’s the shitheads that women see exclusively as a curse (also see Milana Vayntrub).
Milana Vayntrub is a shithead?
No, DBPH was saying that’s who’s to blame in Vayntrub’s situation as well.
I’m seeing double here! Four Vayntrubs!
“particularly being well-endowed, as exclusively a curse (also see Milana Vayntrub)“
Odd, comparing an actor who cosplayed as Squirrel Girl to an actor who refuses to keep her clothes on in front of a camera.
They don’t see beauty or being well endowed as a curse. They view the shitty attitude of other people about their bodies as a curse.
I’m sure social media is playing a role, but when this same story keeps coming for Sydney Sweeney, I often think about the Dead Blondes series on Karina Longworth’s podcast; You Must Remember This. It was about famous blonde bombshells from early to 70s Hollywood (Jean Harlow, Veronica Lake, Carol Landis, Marilyn Monroe etc.) and while it doesn’t make being a beautiful, famous woman seem all bad, my god a lot of them were bloody miserable. Being such a public sexualised figure seemed to make it hard for them to have healthy relationships with dudes IRL. Although admittedly by the nature of the series (focusing on those famous, hypersexualised women who died tragically), maybe the misery is overrepresented in that cohort or whatever
You have no idea what you’re talking about. All her acting choices has been about showing her nude. Watch her movie Voyeur. She spends more time out of her clothes than in them. It was her choice to take on these acting roles
The root cause is lunkheads feeling entitled to the attention of any & every woman they find attractive, whether that’s on social media, in-person, or anywhere in-between.
sTop oPPreSsinG mE!!
I mean…she’s definitely used it to her advantage as well. She’s doing a Barbarella remake for chrissakes, and what is that if not a film that trades on it’s star’s sex appeal. (Admit it, the one thing you remember about that film is Jane Fonda in that costume).
Not true. I also remember Jane Fonda out of that costume.
As someone who went through puberty during the VHS era, I appreciated Barbarella for not making me wait. Right there in the opening credits.Now 10, that’s another story.
How did you do on Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
Why are there so many of you guys who think just because an actress takes a sexual role that makes it ok for men to be giant creeps to her
I don’t think you have a case to make here. You’re just calling all men creeps without any particular justification, and repeating the same comment, with slightly different wording, over and over.
I mean—it’s a good troll, but where’s the punch line?
Telling on themselves, all of them.
I wonder if she’d ever work with Matthew Perry.
Would you ask Tom Petty that question?
I might, but I’ll need a Ouija board.
D. O. N. T. (pause) C. O. M. -Dammit, Tom, this isn’t a Top Ten list!(I look forward to being told that said song doesn’t deserve a Top Ten position.)
Maybe the woman who was just cast as Barbaraella shouldn’t complain overly much about being sexualized.On the other hand, being known as the girl from Euphoria who takes her tits out probably means I would want to cut my eyes out and dip them in bleach after 2 minutes looking through her DMs, because the Internet is a lousy place for attractive women (infinitely moreso if famous and attractive).
On the one hand: tremendous casting. On the other: probably not the best choice is this is what she’s trying to avoid.
See… I don’t think she’s trying to *avoid* overt sexuality in her roles. I think she’s upset by the way people take her *work* and bring it into her outside life. Which is not unique to her situation and not unique to sexuality (plenty of actors have experienced some fan’s inability to separate fiction from real) but is nonetheless unfortunate.Some people want to look at her choice of roles and essentially pull a “She was asking for it.” And c’mon, folks. We’re better than that, surely?(ehhhh….)
I’m not sure what about this is so complicated. Let’s break it down.Sweeney taking roles that highlight her body/attractiveness/sexuality: fine.People enjoying these performances and looking at Sweeney: fine.People tagging her cousins in nude photos/videos of her for literally no reason whatsoever: not fine, what’s wrong with you, why do you need to be told this is fucked up?
I don’t disagree, but also think the issues are interrelated. If she wants to be judged based more upon the quality of her performance than her figure then perhaps the next role shouldn’t be Barbarella. Don’t misinterpret this statement to mean that she’s asking for anything, and her friends and family sure as hell shouldn’t be pestered over her onscreen nudity. As for “we” being better than that…some are, some aren’t.
We don’t know what roles she gets offered. She’s a working actress so why should she turn down Barbarella? None of this should be on her at all.
I don’t agree. I think a woman is perfectly allowed to balance between volunteering for sexy roles while also complaining about the type of interpersonal objectification and harassment that she is experiencing.
You know it’s possible for people to find a woman attractive and still be normal about it right
Boo hoo pretty women have it so hard. Wah wah
Much harder than a ManChild who MeetsInternet.
Awww, poor baby incel.
she should be more interested in escaping her KKK affiliations..
Gets her tits out whenever possible on Euphoria, does exclusively provocative photoshoots and takes a role in the remake of Barbarella, which exists in ANYONE’s memories solely because Jane Fonda did a striptease, and gets pissed off that she’s being sexualized.
It’s definitely someone’s fault, but I can’t really put my finger on whose fault it is.
I do feel bad for women who develop early and suddenly get all this unwanted attention, just for having large breasts. I knew a girl like that growing up; hit high school and suddenly she’s getting noticed by everyone: the boys, the girls, even the teachers. Throughout high school she was both loved and hated, popular and an outcast, which is why I understand it would be called a “curse” to be attractive. She wanted to be an actor, so her developing early actually helped her get noticed during some play, though probably for the wrong reasons (she wasn’t very good, honestly). But it did get her some bit roles and eventually she grew up to have a decent career, if nothing particularly spectacular, though she was often typecast and probably wouldn’t have gotten as far without her looks. She knew it, too, and at first resisted the notion she was just a pretty face with a hot body, but in the end she leaned into it and in doing so her career grew until eventually she became a household name. That woman’s name?You guessed it: Frank Stallone.
Nailed the landing.
That was so well done that I don’t even care if any part of the story is true.
Alright everyone, pack it up. We’re done here.
Norm McDonald is looking up at you right now and smiling.
God help you if you are an ugly girl / of course too pretty is also your doom / everyone harbors a secret hatred / for the prettiest girl in the room
Damn, I was expecting: Moe Green
First off, love the joke.
Second, I’m having a hard time here, did she have a “decent career, if nothing particularly spectacular” or did she “eventually she became a household name”?
I’m not really sure it can be both.
this is the second article i’ve read where the top comment is a Frank Stallone joke. good work, comment section, great work.
I’m so over this. If you hate being sexualized, then stop playing sexualized characters that get naked on screen.
Part of the issue is that roles for women are so often written as sexualized. If a woman wants to have a career as an actor and doesn’t want to be sexualized, her options are far more limited than they are for a man.
Yeah, and women are too dumb to make movies so that’s not an option.
While that’s true, many of her roles so far have been heavily sexual even by Hollywood actress standards.It does strike me as odd that she’s the actress who is the most vocal about this right now, since if I was to make a list of the current generation of actresses who are most willing to appear nude and in graphic sex scenes she’d be one of the first to pop into my head.I suspect the reaction and experience of those career decisions has gone differently than she expected. I guess she didn’t realize people are animals.
I guess, but I’m really not on board with this “well if you don’t like it, quit” attitude people have.
Oh, hopefully I’m clear I’m not either, and she absolutely has the right to voice her concerns. I’m just surprised to hear her complain so much about it, as someone who isn’t in the room for her career discussions, the strategy seems to be lean into it, which complaining about it would seem to fight against that strategy.So I’m surprised, but sympathetic.
I’m more “if you don’t like the fire, stop dumping gasoline on it”.
It’s not a fire, though. And she’s not dumping gasoline.
I’d love to see her play a hard-drinkin’ cop with a secret.
Sydney Sweeney’s grandparents think she “has the best tits in Hollywood” (thebrag.com)
There are women who have sex on camera for money professionally. That doesn’t make it okay for you to walk up to them and offer a Benjamin for a blowjob. Separate the art from the artist for half a second.And FWIW, I’m “so over” dismissive nonsense phrases like “so over”.As if.Gag me with a spoon.Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Mostly because they charge over a grand for escort work
Way to completely miss the point.
I didn’t miss the point at all you just expressed it in an ambiguous manner by including a price range.
You did miss it. EVEN IN a situation where someone is paid DIRECTLY for sex, UNLESS you are in her place of BUSINESS or contacting her through her BUSINESS contact, it is not okay to just blithely chat her up about her sexuality. Her business life and her personal life are separate entities. As is the case with Sweeney. The only situation where those lines understandably blur is the parasocial dynamic of online influencers, and *even there* harassment is not “okay”.
Wait a second, wait a second … spoon, chainsaw … look, I’m going to have to do these things to you sequentially. I only have so many hands.
Pffft. Octodad could manage it.
since you’re so over this she’ll stop now
Area Man Doesn’t Care About Misogynistic Attitudes That Don’t Affect Him Personally
You’re a fucking idiot. I wonder what you do for a living that you can just decide what tasks you can and cannot do. If you think the whole point of her character in Euphoria is for you to get off, you are even more clueless than your comment implies, which is a lot.I feel like I haven’t hammered home how much of a fucking idiot you are.
That would require accountability though lmao
What is there for her to be accountable for? Dipshit hornballs who don’t know how to behave? lmao
Lmao that was….”funny”
Butter face though..
Better idea: Don’t harass total strangers just because you saw them naked in a movie.
That’s a little harsh but yes, if I were tired of being sexualized for maturing physically at an early age, I would probably stop participating in the show that basically runs on that very idea.
I mean, it’s actually really easy to not be an actor on television or in movies. I might be in the minority here, but I don’t think this is a problem with our culture. If you’re a musician or actor or entertainer, a lot of your fans are going to be fans because they’re attracted to you. You can discourage that and struggle harder, or you can lean into it and more easily get rich and famous, but have that fame be more shallow. There’s been a lot of marketing pushing her as a sex symbol, including from her team / herself. I’d even say that that’s why she’s notable. Don’t get me wrong, more power to her, I think it’s totally valid and great. But it’s not like 16 year old Taylor Lautner getting cast in one movie, working out a lot so he won’t get replaced in the next, then getting turned into a shirtless thirst trap for middle-aged women with cardboard cutouts of himself getting stolen from theaters, or the AT&T girl who’s just trying to sell phone service in what are actually really conservative outfits. But what’s really funny, is I actually clicked the link and read the interview, and it barely glances over this topic. There’s something deeply ironic about reading a new interview, skipping over everything else she talks about to get to this one part that’s glanced over to snip out and make into a headline complaining about how people focus on this one thing. If anybody never misses a chance to talk about her boobs and spotlight that she’s done nudity, it’s AVClub.
There is nothing sexual about the way she can take a mic between her titties and several stuck right in her face
Nothing sexual about this position. I always ride my bike this way to avoid sitting on my balls.
She does have some great titties. Can see why they attract attention. Thanks for the boner.
I feel bad reading this cuz my dad and I got into The White Lotus and I had been recently thinking that she’s hot.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with thinking that. And I doubt she would be upset by the idea. What she might find upsetting is if you then posted to her Instagram “Hey, you’re hot in White Lotus”. It isn’t the reaction itself, it’s what people have been doing with that reaction.
Honestly, she probably wouldn’t have said anything if it was only at the level of “hey, you’re hot in White Lotus”. But they go beyond that to crap like spamming “mommy milkers” & calling her a whore & sending her dick pics & going into disturbingly graphic detail about how they want to screw her, not to mention tagging her family in it.
A lot of people in this comments section don’t seem to have processed that this is not a story about one woman’s ostensible hotness, but actually a story about harassment of public figures. It takes roughly one more second of thinking time to get to that point in the discussion, and yet so many people here aren’t managing it.
Yep. Part of that is misogyny. Part of it is bullshit labor valuation (basically “she shouldn’t complain, she’s a well paid actor, it’s not commercial fishing” or whatever). There’s some misplaced feminist ire (because conventional attractiveness gets her employment in the system that perpetuates unrealistic beauty standards, making her “part of the problem”). Etc. I don’t love her notion of pursuing roles to piss people off (that feels like petty antagonism) but I can’t blame her.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that and she probably wouldn’t either. The problem is the calculus some people do: “You’re hot as part of your a job so that makes you a WHORE.” This harassment isn’t isolated to women but they do get much more of it.
It’s ok to find women sexy.
Jesus, how fucking stupid are you?
It’s OK to think she’s hot. It’s NOT ok to post nude/provocative pictures of her and tag her family.
GROW. A. FUCKING. BRAIN.
Maybe because I watched it on my phone as a second screen and was streaming it more for Zendaya’s performance, but I didn’t realize Sweeney was naked that much in Euphoria, while I’d say her nudity and her character’s sexuality was more at the center of The Voyeurs on Prime and am a bit surprised it doesn’t come up more in these discussions.
Fewer people want to admit that they have seen the latter. And why.
…the story wasn’t that bad!
Sure. I guess Shannon Tweed wasn’t available.
I don’t think anyone buys this shit anymore, its 2022. She can choose different parts and pick a different PR manager or whatever.
Oh God you’re back
See? This guy gets it. If you take the role of a sexy person in some work of fiction then you and your family should absolutely be harrassed in real life. You deserve it and if you can’t handle it then that’s on you and not the smooth brained creeps like Sinjun.
Was this done because Sweeney didn’t completely disavow her parents and other relatives to the extent that the random Twitter cuntocracy decided needed to happen?
Star for “cuntocracy”
I’m still trying to recover from her “God, I’ve never been this wet” line in Euphoria.
Sexy Sydney, what have you done?
Being sexualized against one’s will is never a positive experience, and, no, it isn’t necessarily flattering to be found attractive. There was a while back in the 80s when those baseless gerbilling rumors about Richard Gere were in vogue, and I can guarantee you not a single gerbil was turned on or starstruck as a result.
Give me a break…
This was Christina Hendricks’ interview song for years. Does Sweeney need this schtick?
What Sweeney’s comments made me think of was Uma Thurman circa 1988, where I remember a review of Dangerous Liaisons that said there were audible gasps in the theater when she took her shirt off. (I also suspect no mainstream reviewer would write that nowadays.)Thurman then largely stopped taking sexualized roles that required nudity and I think it’s fair to say she’s had a pretty darned good career. If Sweeney wants to try something different, I think she’s a capable enough actor to do so, but she’s got enough work that if she keeps taking the roles she does it’s the path she’s chosen rather than what she’s been forced into in order to break into the business.
She must be a great actress, then. I saw her in White Lotus and her character made me never want to watch her in anything again.
Seems she has conflicting thoughts about how people perceive her.
That’s her right, just like everyone else.
Wow you guys. Obviously she is using her sexuality. That doesn’t mean it’s not gross for people to tag her family in nude pics. She has every right to be annoyed by that behavior. Don’t be so reactionary.
*makes millions off of marketing her sexuality**complains about being sexualized*This is like a bartender complaining that people spend too much money on booze at their bar.If it bothers her, maybe knock it off with the photo shoots with your boobs hanging out and your ass in the air? Or don’t… make that money off your body while you can (I would) but stop the fucking whining. Jesus.
I fucking hate the men at this site. Eat a bullet, every single one of you.
“Sydney Sweeney cannot escape doesn’t want to stop talking about her own sexualization”FTFY.
Sydney dear, stop talking about your boobs. Margot Robbie got fully naked for The Wolf of Wall Street, but she didn’t go around talking about her naked body for years. I’m sure Sweeney will get the serious roles she wants, but not for a couple of decades. I hope she earns the power to demand script changes that will reduce the amount of nudity and sex she was cast to do.