CLARE FOGES: When women like Sydney Sweeney demean themselves for money, we all suffer

Is Spandau Ballet soaring up the charts? Is Thatcher in power? Is that a Findus Crispy Pancake I can smell? I can only assume we are back in the 1980s, looking at the controversial advert featuring Sydney Sweeney, as pneumatic and naff as Sam Fox in her Page 3 heyday.

The ad for sports betting company Novig shows a completely naked Sydney holding various sporting objects to cover her ‘modesty’. Here she is, holding two American footballs in front of her breasts: titter! There she is, holding a rugby ball over her tuppence. In another she has a tennis ball balancing above her bottom.

There is no denying she looks amazing. The latest wonder of the modern world is not Sydney’s undulating opera house but Sydney’s undulating chest. In the video those famous globes are covered by mere wisps of golden hair as she sits atop a basketball hoop (as you do). It’s a marketing slam-dunk for Novig!

But what is this advert? A masterstroke from a genius, capitalist Barbie? Or a sexist yuk-fest that sets women back decades in the space of 40 seconds?

For legions of sportswomen, it is the latter. Australia’s four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus described it as ‘a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft’.

British sprinter Amy Hunt – who became the first athlete to win four golds at a single European Championships this summer – has also spoken out, citing the fact that 64 per cent of young girls drop out of sport before they reach the age of 16. Hunt says: ‘We’re really trying to show [girls] that it’s about what your body can do, not what it looks like.’

Amen to all that. But as someone whose sporting career peaked at 4th place in the school 200 metres in 1995, to me this isn’t just about sports. It’s about the lie that taking your clothes off is what female empowerment looks like.

While Sydney Sweeney's advert for sports betting company Novig is a marketing slam-dunk for them, for legions of accomplished sportswomen it is simply a sexist yuk-fest

Some people have defended the Sydney advert by saying this is a terrific display of empowerment because she is calling the shots. She owns a financial stake in Novig. The controversy will equal millions of advert views, which in turn will drive new customers and make her a pile of cash. Yep, even this column is grist to Sydney’s money-making mill.

She’s a canny lass, they argue, who knows how to deploy her assets. Indeed, last year she paired up with soap brand Dr Squatch to market ‘Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss’, said to be made with the star’s used bathwater and described as ‘a perfect combination of the two best places on the planet: the outdoors and Sydney Sweeney’s bathtub’. One wonders how many creeps rubbed their thighs at that prospect.

Then there was her role in TV show Euphoria, which leaned heavily for its marketing on images of Sydney’s character in the altogether: pictured on all fours, dressed as a dog and (sickeningly) as a sexualised baby with her legs in the air and a dummy in her mouth. Or the time she went to an awards show in a sheer dress and no bra.

According to Sydney’s defenders, these stunts are inspired, because rather than being a victim of the male gaze, she is exploiting it – and laughing all the way to the bank. ‘More power to her,’ they say, one commentator calling her a ‘good businesswoman’.

On this reasoning, porn provocateur Bonnie Blue – the one that had sex with 1,000 men in a day – is her generation’s answer to Richard Branson. She too knows that sex sells. When she markets herself as a human ‘petting zoo’, she’s being remarkably canny, is she? Exploiting the male gaze for her own gain, and all that...

What is irritating about this kind of commentary is how often it is dressed up as nouveau-feminism. ‘Her body, her choice,’ people say, as though whatever Sydney or Bonnie Blue do with their own bodies is only between them and their conscience, with no wider impact on women. But this is poppycock. They are helping to shape our society.

It promotes the lie that taking your clothes off is what female empowerment looks like, Clare Foges says – the same warped reasoning used by porn provocateur Bonnie Blue

When famous women like Sydney cheapen themselves to enrich themselves, that has a wider impact. Girls around the world are watching, noting what gets attention. They think it’s cool to reduce all you are to jiggling T and A.

Way below Sydney’s level of money and fame are women who have absorbed her message, who think taking pics in their Primark undies for Only Fans is ‘empowered’ because some bloke is paying them a tenner to get their knockers out.

The dubious linkage of empowerment and female nudity has a lot to answer for: all those girls feel an immense pressure to look ‘hot’, wearing bottom-skimming dresses on a freezing night out, sending nudes to boys’ phones.

And beyond what it teaches girls about female sexuality, the Sydney approach to fame reinforces to our TikTok-obsessed younger generations that success comes in only two categories: getting lots of attention or making lots of money. What matters is going viral, getting clicks and rich – no matter if you ditch your integrity.

The truly gross thing about this advert isn’t who is selling the product, but what that product is. Online gambling is a destructive industry which creates casualties: families torn apart, addicts who take their lives. Problem gambling affects 1.4million in the UK alone, with the worst affected being young men: sexy Sydney’s target demographic.

The advert is designed to make horny teenage boys combust with desire, before logging on to Novig and losing lots of money. For all these reasons, this tawdry display from Sydney shouldn’t get a ‘you go, girl!’ but a ‘you can do better, girl’.

Meg needs a dose of rural reality  

Meghan’s latest Insta dispatch showed a glimpse of their new life in the UK: roaring log fires, fishing in a lake, country walks.

Although Meghan's latest clips of life in the UK look lovely, if she truly wants to win Britons over, she'd be better off posting about potholes and norovirus, quips Clare Foges

But if she really wants to win back hearts and minds over here, she would be better off posting autumnal content the average Brit can relate to: playing count the potholes on a country drive, Harry scrolling through his phone at a soft-play centre, trying to light a Catherine wheel on a rainy bonfire night, the family bout of norovirus...

Go on, Meg, show you’re really one of us.

Sainsbury's new apple crumble sandwich comes hot on the heels of the hugely popular strawberries and cream sandwich from M&S 

Not so sane sarnies... 

Nothing says autumn like some days-old apple squished between two soggy slices of bread. 

Sainsbury’s new apple crumble sandwich comes hot on the heels of the M&S strawberries and cream sandwich.

As a cheese and tomato traditionalist, I can’t help but wonder if these vile sandwiches are just so Gen Z has something quirky to eat on SnackTok.

According to new NSPCC guidance, male teachers should be allowed to supervise girls getting undressed in the changing room. 

Are they out of their minds? Even if the men are not remotely predatory, it would make young women feel extremely uncomfortable. 

Given the ongoing heat around the trans issue, I can’t help but suspect this had something to do with the woke brigade.

This season’s must-have: a black balaclava. As seen on anti-migrant protesters as well as yobbos on a high street near you. I've noticed lots of food delivery drivers in them too. The protesters claim they’re defending women. I wish they’d ban these masks.

Black balaclavas seem to have become this season's must-have accessory for a certain type of man... such as these anti-migrant protestors pictured in London