Sydney Sweeney has hit back at body shamers who have called her “dumpy” and “butterface” for *checks notes* bulking up for an upcoming movie role.
The Euphoria and Anyone But You actor is set to play professional boxer Christy Martin in an upcoming biopic about the sports star's life and her pioneering journey in the world of women's sport. So, of course, critics have seen fit to tear down the woman who is trying to tell this story. The insults towards Sydney are varied, hurtful and misogynistic, with one calling her an “Ozempic candidate” while another calling her Miss Piggy.
We urgently need better education on the impact PCOS has on our bodies and minds.
Sydney shared a rather damning video on Instagram, which slides through a ream of published slurs against her body, followed by footage of her working hard at the gym to create the body necessary to portray a professional female boxer, which includes her flipping a tyre and pumping iron in the gym.
Her post is clearly a clapback against her critics, as well as an explanation for the change in her body – but what we want to know is why women should even have to deem it necessary to explain themselves in this way.
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This toxic public attitude towards Sydney's body aside is an indictment of our societal attitudes towards women's bodies, so many people think they are entitled to an opinion – and they do not. But more than that, Sydney doesn't owe us an explanation or justification for her “bulked up” body, or whatever exercise regime she may choose to do or not to do in the future.
My body was commented on and objectified while I was wearing school uniform; I was seen as a target for teenage boys and a figure of adult men’s sexual desires…
The biopic will follow Christy's battles in the ring as well as personal ones, as she grapples with her queer identity growing up in a Conservative US town in the 1990s. It's such an important story to tell, in terms of championing women's sport and the LGBTQIA+ community and their journeys.
In an Instagram post announcing that she will be playing Christy (after paparazzi invaded her privacy while she was training and filming, might we add), Sydney herself credited the battles Christy fought. “Her journey is a testament to resilience, strength, and hope, and I’m honoured to step into her shoes to share her powerful story with you all,” she wrote.
And yet, Sydney's work to tell such an empowered story has been reduced to commentary on her body. Because of course.
Aside from the fact that work towards a film that is all about female empowerment has been met with this reaction, let's make another thing clear – it's just not our business if a woman's body, famous or other wise, changes in this way. Sydney's impulse to clap back to her critics, just demonstrates the responsibility women so often feel to explain what's going with their bodies. And they absolutely do not.
It stinks of a wider problem, for women whether or not they are famous, that society has normalised trolls meeting their work and bodies with such cruelty. No woman, movie star or otherwise, owes any of us an explanation about what she does with her own flesh and blood.
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In a past interview with GLAMOUR, Sydney spoke openly and frankly about how feminism and empowerment fed into her ultimately accepting and loving her body for all its strengths.“One of the questions I get is, ‘Are you a feminist?’ I find empowerment through embracing the body that I have," she said. "That’s sexy and strong, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it."
She also spoke about previous times in her life where she has felt body shamed, including her impulse to cover up the size of her breasts with oversize sweatshirts, and her journey towards self-acceptance.
“I went through that process of covering my body up at such a young age, but once I became more confident with myself, [it changed]. I want to show girls that it’s amazing and beautiful and empowering to have the bodies that we have," she said. "Everybody’s body is beautiful. When you are confident and you’re happy within is when it really shows to other people.”
So can we please follow Sydney Sweeney's example here, championing self-acceptance, pulling away from body shaming, embracing all body types and acknowledging that any woman's body is none of our business to comment on?
