Women that are setting us back decades are Sydney Sweeney and Sabrina Carpenter
From Sydneys overly sultry voice, bath water soap, and high-key racist ad with American Eagle to Sabrina Carpenter who embraces her sexuality too provocatively for the public, many on TikTok have started to list women who are setting us back decades with these two at the top of the list. Here’s why these two are comparable at all and why this trend of women setting us back is just white feminist nonsense.
First, let’s address what the two have done to be so called setting us back.
Sydney Sweeney, who became famous for her role as Cassie in hit show Euphoria, has made headlines most recently for her infamous collab with American Eagle. In said advertisement, Sweeney is heard with her classic sultry voice, reading a script that played with the words “jeans” and “genes”. Sydney Sweeney is not only conventionally attractive, but is blue eyed with long blonde hair so when the words “i have great jeans” uttered from her mouth, it was no shock why people took offense. An ad that was supposed to be highlighting a new jean line with a famous actress turned into the biggest scandal of the summer with people accusing the brand of promoting aryan ideals. The matter became even worse when Gap released an ad for their new jean line with the trending Katseye, a k-pop style group most famous for their diverse and highly talented members. The ad highlighted diversity with their main catchphrase being, “jeans for everybody”. I think its clear enough why “jeans for everybody”, modeled by several people from different backgrounds in an intricate dance routine with the nostalgic song “Milkshake”, sold better than “i have great jeans”, modeled by a stereotypically pretty blonde with blue eyes who was clearly trying to make pun saying that she has “great jeans” and “great genes” (whatever that means).
Now, to Sabrina Carpenter who has recently had the most eyes on her than she ever has before despite the fact that she was a regular on Disney shows her entire childhood. With the hit album, Short & Sweet, following the most viral song of the summer of 2024 Espresso, she’s built a very distinct brand with her iconic blonde blowout and out of pocket humor. The Short & Sweet tour itself went viral for several reasons including the grand reveal of a new sparkly body suit at the start of every show and her poses while performing her song Juno. What was once praised as an empowered woman with a raw, funny personality embracing her sexuality has now been greatly criticized over the cover of her new album A Mans Best Friend. The infamous cover is of Sabrina Carpenter on her knees looking into the camera with what seems like a mans hand holding her by her hair. Speaking from a subjective standpoint, I honestly don’t see what the big issue is. You can’t give women the autonomy of creative freedom and then criticize them because they are too provocative for your liking.
Are the two issues similar? No. Have they been compared and put in the same box, for some reason, yes. The controversy surrounding Sweeney was more so about her promoting essentially gene superiority while the controversy concerning Carpenter is about an album cover that really isn’t offensive at all. All the hoopla about the two but the loss of consistency is a product of white liberal feminism. Sabrina Carpenters album cover has been taken way out of proportion and while the criticism of Sydney Sweeneys ad was completely justified, saying the two are examples of women setting us back is just not fair. Meanwhile, these users making posts about the two setting us back are the same people who idolize Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Like come on.