Modern WisdomWhy Sydney Sweeney Has Two Big Targets On Her Chest - William Costello
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Backlash to Sydney Sweeney’s ad explained through evolutionary psychology and tribalism
- Chris Williamson and William Costello analyze backlash to Sydney Sweeney’s Novig sports-betting ad, arguing claims it “set women’s sport back” are exaggerated and inconsistent with pro–sexual liberation norms.
- They propose three evolutionary-psychology mechanisms—female intrasexual competition, sexual economics theory, and female coalitional psychology—to explain why some women respond with moralized shaming and coordinated condemnation.
- The conversation contrasts Sweeney with figures like Sabrina Carpenter to show how “girls’ girl” in-group signaling can make similar sexual self-presentation seem empowering rather than traitorous.
- They contend the controversy distracts from the larger ethical issue: the expansion of online sports gambling and its potential harms to young men, including debt, relationship damage, and suicidality.
- The hosts broaden the discussion to gendered double standards (e.g., hypocrisy, ‘gamma bias,’ moral typecasting of men) and whether calling out inconsistencies actually changes minds or just triggers tribal defensiveness.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThe intensity of the backlash is explained less by “sports ethics” and more by perceived mate-market threat.
Costello frames much of the backlash as female intrasexual competition: women react most strongly to rivals who embody male mate preferences (youth/beauty). Sweeney is perceived as a salient threat because she openly signals she’s catering to men (e.g., “for the boys”) rather than softening it with “girls’ girl” cues.
Female-on-female policing often targets sexual morality and loyalty cues, not competence.
They argue women’s competition is often indirect (concern-trolling, reputation attacks, shunning) because historically direct conflict was riskier for women. In this view, accusations like “she’d steal your boyfriend” function as moralized reputation damage aimed at lowering her long‑term mate value.
Some criticism is a cartel-like enforcement mechanism: don’t lower the bargaining price by over-serving male desire.
Using sexual economics theory, they describe women as collectively incentivized to maintain the “price of sex” (commitment/investment) by punishing behaviors that seem to lower it. Sweeney’s unapologetic sexual display is interpreted as making other women fear rising expectations to compete similarly.
In-group signaling (“girls’ girl” vs “for the boys”) can matter more than the behavior itself.
They contrast Sweeney with Sabrina Carpenter: both sexualize themselves, but Carpenter more clearly signals in-group solidarity with women (“doing it for the girls”), while Sweeney signals alignment with male tastes. The claim is that identical behaviors are interpreted differently depending on perceived tribal affiliation.
The ‘real story’ may be gambling harm, but ‘harm to women’ is treated as more culturally legible.
A major thread is “selected outrage” and media incentive: critics foreground alleged harm to women’s sports while ignoring what the hosts consider the bigger harm—predatory online gambling targeting young men. They cite research claims linking legalized online gambling to higher debt/bankruptcy and elevated suicidality among problem gamblers.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI heard an Irish radio presenter... he claimed that she in 40 seconds has set female sport back 40 years. And I hear that and I think, what an incredibly sexist, low kind of view of female sports.
— William Costello
Women are kind of as a group, they're kind of like the cartel with the cost of sex.
— William Costello
Sydney Sweeney is the funniest stress test feminism has ever encountered... Somehow the feminist response is thousands of women materializing to explain that her body is actually a collective political resource... Fucking lol.
— Chris Williamson
Things are upside down, Chris. We've got the woke progressives being puritanical and sex negative, and we've got the right-wing, you know, conservatives being, you know, degenerate.
— William Costello
But yes, sports betting... Bankruptcy among young men goes way up, and they go into way more debt... I think something like 13% have attempted suicide, uh, because of this.
— William Costello
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
