Leah Williamson is the face (and body) of Calvin Klein's latest underwear campaign, following in the footsteps of many England football legends, including David Beckham, Jude Bellingham, and Trent Alexander-Arnold. But, according to the Daily Mail, Leah's shoot represents a “crude betrayal” of her “team-mates and fans who may be less gorgeous than [her]”. Eh?
“The beautiful game for women and girls was supposed to be an escape from all the tropes about having the perfect body,” journalist Amanda Platell writes. The implication is that Leah, with her “perfect washboard stomach” who parades “her body like a footballing Kim Kardashian”, is letting down the legions of women and girls who look up to her as a role model.
Let's rewind, shall we? This season, Leah Williamson has returned from a devastating ACL injury to win a historic Champions League title with her girlhood club Arsenal, as well as leading England to try and defend their European title that she helped them win back in 2022. I could list more role-model-worthy behaviour – writing a children's book about believing in yourself, being an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, opening up about her battle with endometriosis, etc, but why should I have to?
Why are sportswomen constantly held to a higher standard of respectability than sportsmen? Why can't we let Leah Williamson be sexy in peace?
TikTok content
While progress has been made, male professional footballers still earn significantly more than their female counterparts. In 2023, the Women's Super League generated approximately 0.5% of the annual revenue of the Premier League (the top English men's football league), according to FA chief executive Mark Bullingham. While the average salary of Premier League players is around £60,000 per week, WSL players can expect to earn £47,000 per year. While male players can retire to a life of fast cars, mansions, and Louis Vuitton, most women's players have no such luxury.
Beyond radical, sustained investments, the women's game must generate comparable levels of revenue to the men's game, which, as it turns out, follows increased visibility from brand deals such as Calvin Klein and Leah Wiliamson's latest campaign.
While Platell concedes that international women footballers should “be free to make money from sponsorship and advertising deals,” she goes on to describe the Calvin Klein images as “tawdry”, adding that they don't “fit the image of the game all those gawky young girls passionately bought into.”
The idea that young, female football fans would feel disappointed by Leah Williamson modelling for Calvin Klein is laughable, to say the least. And look, ‘gawky young girls’ aren't a monolith of puritans who need their eyes shielding from the slightest show of skin. Nor are they the only demographic of England Women's fans who matter. Some of us have been watching it for years. Some of us are gay, Amanda. Indeed, when the campaign was launched earlier this month, the online reception was one of queer panic/delight.
Leah Williamson is not the first Lioness to ‘get her kit off’, as part of a Calvin Klein campaign. Ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023, Glamour cover star Chloe Kelly featured in a remarkably similar shoot, alongside the USA's Alex Morgan, which explored athleticism, strength, and vulnerability though a queer gaze – in my opinion, anyway.
X content
Where was the outrage then? On this occasion, the Daily Mail went with the headline, 'Women's World Cup stars Chloe Kelly and Alex Morgan strip down for sultry Calvin Klein underwear shoot...'
Admittedly, the cultural landscape has shifted somewhat. We are living through a renaissance of ultra-conservative values that diminish women's sexuality and agency. We're living on a diet of content that fetishises domestic submission; letting our man order for us at restaurants because of ‘princess treatment’, falling in love so hard you start liking the colour pink again; and ditching your promising ballet career to get married and have eight children.
Women who attempt to subvert these ‘traditional values, however clumsily, are subject to immense scrutiny. I'm thinking of Sabrina Carpenter sparking a month of discourse for a sexually suggestive album cover; Chappel Roan being accused of objectifying women with her satirical blow-up sex doll costume on RuPaul's Drag Race; and of Sydney Sweeney's bath water soap being held responsible for the downfall of modern feminism.
With that in mind, I'd argue that the Daily Mail's apparent aversion to Leah Williamson's underwear photos is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to whip the anti-woke brigade into a frenzy of unfounded moral panics about female sexuality. Ultimately, this just diverts attention from Leah's skill, artistry, and athleticism – all of which, in my opinion, were reflected in the Calvin Klein shoot.
Leah Williamson is a leader, a role model, and an excellent defender. She's also sexy. Deal with it.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
The founders of Girls Watch Girls Play have got the intel.
