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Modern WisdomWhy Sydney Sweeney Has Two Big Targets On Her Chest - William Costello
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Sydney Sweeney’s betting ad backlash, explained through evolutionary psychology dynamics
- Chris Williamson and William Costello discuss backlash to Sydney Sweeney’s Novig sports-betting ad and argue claims that it “set women’s sports back” are exaggerated and difficult to substantiate.
- William attributes much of the anger toward Sweeney to intrasexual competition, sexual economics theory, and female coalitional norm enforcement—especially because she signals that her sexualization is for male attention.
- They compare reactions to other sexualized media and to figures like Sabrina Carpenter to argue that “who it’s for” (girls vs boys) changes whether similar sexual presentation is celebrated or condemned.
- They contend the ad’s bigger social impact is normalizing and marketing gambling to young men, which they describe as financially and psychologically corrosive, yet less discussed than perceived harms to women.
- They end by debating whether highlighting hypocrisy changes minds, and William emphasizes that sex differences should be analyzed by specific domains rather than broad claims about who has it worse overall.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThe backlash is framed as female intrasexual competition amplified by explicit “male gaze” signaling.
William Costello argues that Sydney Sweeney uniquely triggers intrasexual competition because she is not only attractive, but also openly signals that her sexualized presentation is “for the boys,” which cues threat and prompts coordinated social punishment from other women.
Some condemnation functions as “price enforcement” within the mating marketplace.
William Costello describes sexual economics theory as a cartel-like dynamic where women police each other’s sexual availability, because individuals who lower the “price” (e.g., by catering strongly to male desire) change expectations for everyone else.
Women’s group norms reward modesty and shared vulnerability—and punish norm violators.
William Costello says women’s coalitional psychology favors leveling, consensus, and indirect competition, including mutual self-deprecation and norm enforcement; he argues Sydney Sweeney violates these norms by not signaling “I’m one of the girls.”
They see the “set women’s sports back” narrative as overblown and inconsistently applied.
Chris Williamson and William Costello repeatedly argue the “women’s sports set back” claim is extraordinary and weakly evidenced, and Chris highlights past examples of nude or sexualized sports-related media to question why this case is treated differently.
They argue gambling harm to young men is the real story being missed.
Both suggest the more important (and under-discussed) issue is the ad’s promotion of sports betting, which they describe as predatory toward young men; William cites research and statistics he says link legalized online gambling to debt/bankruptcy and suicidality.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIt's nice to have that in the back pocket when I'm accused of sexism or whatever.
— William Costello
The only reason anyone is watching female sports is because of the male gaze.
— Chris Williamson
It's okay when one of our group does it, but not okay if someone who hasn't, uh, expressed their bona fides of the ideology enough, then it's not okay.
— William Costello
Women are giving away sex without commitment, and men are giving away commitment without sex.
— Chris Williamson
The other key thing is that Sydney Sweeney has pretty aggressively and vocally signaled to other women and to men that she is prioritizing men over the group, women as a group.
— William Costello
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
