Chris WilliamsonWhy Sydney Sweeney Has Two Big Targets On Her Chest - William Costello
Chris Williamson
Setting Up The Sydney Sweeney Controversy 0:00
The episode opens with the hosts noting that one of them once won the Feminist Evolutionary Psychology Society award for a conference poster, a credential they jokingly cite before tackling a contentious topic. The subject is Sydney Sweeney's advertisement for Novig, a sports-only betting and prediction market company. The ad shows Sweeney in athletic gear making sports-related quips, and it triggered a wave of online backlash, including an Irish radio presenter's claim that she had set women's sports back forty years in a forty-second clip.
Backlash And Its Contradictions 3:02
The hosts argue the backlash misreads the ad, since Sweeney is not commenting on female athletes but promoting a gambling product aimed at young men, the platform's natural target market. They point out that Sweeney is not just an ambassador but an actual owner of Novig, giving her direct financial motive. A New York Times quote is read claiming the ad undermines decades of progress by women in sport, which the hosts call inconsistent given the same commentators' past embrace of sexualized pop anthems, OnlyFans, and sex work as empowering. They highlight the double standard further by recalling a viral clip of women ogling a shirtless male tennis player days earlier, with no similar outrage.
Naked Athletes And Selective Outrage 7:31
The hosts list examples that undercut the claim that nudity damages perceptions of female athletes, including ESPN's Body Issue featuring Ronda Rousey, Serena and Venus Williams, an amputee athlete, and the US women's soccer team, including Megan Rapinoe, posing nude. They argue female sports are watched overwhelmingly by men anyway, so framing the ad as uniquely harmful makes little sense. They compare this selective outrage to Ryanair's Michael O'Leary being criticized for calling other airlines' pricing "raping the consumer" in the same week that a sexual assault case involving migrants in Galway received little media attention, suggesting a pattern of misplaced focus.
Would A Different Woman Get Less Backlash 11:30
The hosts speculate whether a right-coded, conventionally attractive athlete like WNBA player Sophie Cunningham would have faced the same backlash as Sweeney. They conclude the reaction would have been different in nature, focused more on sexualization than legitimacy, but still substantial, because the underlying dynamic is tribal: it is acceptable when someone within the ideological in-group does it, but not when someone perceived as insufficiently aligned does the same thing.
Three Evolutionary Psychology Explanations 13:00
The guest introduces three concepts to explain the reaction to Sweeney: intrasexual competition, sexual economics theory, and female coalitional psychology. Intrasexual competition explains that women become jealous of rivals who embody traits men prefer, namely youth and beauty, and Sweeney embodies these while explicitly signaling that her sexuality is "for the boys" rather than reassuring other women she is not competing for men. This directness violates the evolved norm that women compete indirectly and covertly, since historically women who provoked open conflict risked violence that could jeopardize their offspring's survival. Female derogation of rivals, he explains, typically targets sexual morality and looks, such as claims a woman is disloyal or aging, rather than direct insults about formidability as men use against other men.
Sexual Economics And Price Enforcement 19:02
Sexual economics theory frames sexual access as a resource with a cost scale, from marriage and commitment at the high end to casual sex at the low end, with women collectively acting like a cartel policing the price. Sweeney's overt catering to male desire is seen as undercutting this collective price-setting, since if one woman offers what men want without cost, it can lower the shared bargaining standard. The hosts draw a parallel to "simp shaming," in which men enforce a similar mechanism to stop other men from giving loyalty and resources without requiring sexual access in return, keeping the trade balanced.
Coalitional Psychology And Sabrina Carpenter Contrast 23:01
Female coalitional psychology favors leveling and shared credit, with women historically downplaying individual victories, while men prefer clear, scored competition. Sweeney is contrasted with Sabrina Carpenter, who also self-sexualizes but frames it as being for herself and other women, positioning herself as a "girl's girl." A widely shared tweet is quoted arguing that Carpenter's sexuality is self-directed empowerment while Sweeney's is service to male pleasure, a distinction the hosts find hollow since men enjoy both equally. The segment closes by noting Sweeney has never publicly aligned herself with feminist causes or issues like Palestine, unlike many public figures, reinforcing the perception that she prioritizes male approval over group loyalty to women.
Feminists Policing Female Sexuality 27:30
The discussion opens with a critique of the backlash against Sydney Sweeney, framing it as women forming a decentralized committee to police another woman's body and sexuality rather than the patriarchy doing so. William Costello notes this fits sexual economics theory, since it resembles puritanical style policing dressed up as liberation. He points out that many men supposedly enforcing patriarchy are actually indifferent, saying things like "let her cook," while women are the ones drafting rules about what Sweeney can do with her own body.
Why Women Downplay Their Wins 28:30
Costello explains why women often deflect praise, using the classic example of a girl getting top grades and insisting she just got lucky. He traces this to ancestral survival pressures, where standing out risked making enemies, so downplaying achievement signals "I'm not a threat, I'm one of you." He points to everyday rituals like women complimenting each other's looks and then denying them, and to podcasts like Call Her Daddy, where sharing embarrassing personal stories functions to reassure other women and keep the group's status equal. A woman who refuses to share something self-deprecating risks being shunned as too full of herself, reflecting women's more consensus-driven, coalition-based psychology.
Girl Boss Feminism's Narrow Vision 31:01
The hosts discuss what they call the "soft bigotry of male expectations," the idea that girl boss feminism can only imagine female empowerment through traditionally male-coded roles like CEO, breadwinner, or hunter, with little regard for mother, carer, or homemaker. They argue Sydney Sweeney fits this lab-built archetype of the sexually liberated, sporty entrepreneur, yet still draws criticism because her appeal targets male sexual psychology specifically, an example of what Costello calls heteropessimism, where anything celebrating heterosexual male desire is treated as suspect while the same behavior aimed at female desire is celebrated.
Mismeasuring Male and Female Entitlement 32:01
Costello describes a paper he is writing, "The Mismeasurement of Men," about psychological scales that label male sexual attitudes as entitled or sexist using language that would be praised if a woman said it, such as wanting one's sexual needs met by a partner. He extends this to benevolent sexism, noting that a woman cooking every night for her husband is framed as him "weaponizing incompetence," while a man doing everything for a woman is called infantilizing her. Men, he says, are consistently morally typecast as the aggressor in these dynamics.
Sexualization Feels Different by Sex 36:01
The conversation turns to why sexualized ads work differently depending on the model's sex, referencing Fabio, David Beckham, and the "Hot Dudes Reading" social account. Men generally don't mind being sexualized because it doesn't carry the same threat of violence that it does for women, and male viewers tend to feel motivated or aspirational rather than diminished. Women, by contrast, are more likely to internalize sexualized images as a put-down, which shapes the very different reactions to campaigns aimed at each sex.
Distrust of Women With Mostly Male Friends 37:01
Citing research from Sarah Hill's lab led by Hannah Bradshaw, Costello explains that women tend to distrust other women who have mostly male friends, suspecting their motives. This connects to evidence that cross-sex friendships frequently shift into romantic or sexual territory, that mate poachers often use friendship as a way into someone's relationship, and that a woman surrounded by men may be seen as having easier access to them or a mating psychology more like a man's, making her a perceived threat to other women.
Sweeney's Lack of Victim Narrative 40:02
Costello suggests Sweeney's refusal to frame herself as a vulnerable victim, unlike the shared-vulnerability bonding common among women, may explain some of the backlash, though he notes she once made a film touching on reproductive rights. Chris Williamson imagines how differently she'd be received if she framed her body as something she'd overcome insecurity about, but instead she has publicly thanked her mother for talking her out of a boob reduction, sending what he calls the opposite signal, one of pride rather than struggle.
What the Research Says About Boobs 42:00
Costello reviews evidence on breast attractiveness, noting that shape and firmness, referred to in research as ptosis, matter more consistently than size, tied to reproductive value and youth under what Frank Marlowe called the nubility hypothesis. Short-term-mating-oriented men do prioritize larger breasts, and women tend to derogate large-breasted women more, partly because it signals to others that men will perceive them as short-term mating prospects, regardless of their actual intentions.
A Shift From Boobs to Ass 43:30
He cites a study of roughly 300 to 400 Norwegian men showing groups focused on both breasts and buttocks, or on buttocks alone, but none focused on breasts alone, suggesting current cultural attention may be shifting toward the buttocks. Williamson offers a possible explanation: the buttocks are easier to conceal, positioned out of direct eye contact, which may mean women compensate for men's actual preference by keeping breasts more visibly displayed at "eye level."
Comparing Reactions to Lindsey Clancy 46:00
The pair compare public sympathy for Lindsey Clancy against the backlash toward Sydney Sweeney, drawing a parallel to jury bias in the O.J. Simpson trial, where a mostly Black female jury showed little sympathy for Nicole Simpson, seen as having taken a successful Black man. Costello suggests juries and public sympathy often follow in-group loyalty, and that Clancy may not have been seen as enough of a mating-psychology threat to provoke the same collective policing Sweeney receives.
Effortless Beauty Feels More Threatening 48:01
Discussing why men rarely resent conventionally attractive men the way women resent Sweeney, Costello points to the idea of "unearned traits." A muscular man is assumed to have earned his body through gym work and discipline, but Sweeney's figure reads as natural and effortless, which he argues rubs in the unfairness of genetic variation more sharply. He contrasts her with Sabrina Carpenter, whose heavily styled, made-up presentation appeals more to female and gay male audiences, while Sweeney's low-effort presentation implicitly tells other women she is more desirable without trying.
Attractiveness Is Easier for Men to Build 50:30
The conversation closes on the asymmetry between the sexes in cultivating attractiveness. For men, physical formidability signals value as an ally, not just a mate, and traits like going to the gym reliably boost attractiveness across most of a man's life. For women, beauty operates on a tighter biological timeline that is much harder to extend, which Costello says explains why aging or rival women feel more threatened by Sweeney, a threat men rarely feel toward each other since a disciplined man in his forties can still reshape his body to rival someone younger.
How Rivalry Shifts With Age 52:30
Costello predicts that derogation of Sweeney would differ by the age of the woman judging her: younger women would more likely criticize her promiscuity, while older women, whose direct mate value has declined, would instead attack her intelligence, calling her a "bimbo," since their status now rests on wisdom rather than youth. He links this to the "maiden, mother, matriarch" framework discussed by Louise Perry, where each life stage emphasizes different sources of value, from fecundity and loyalty to eventual wisdom.
A Missed Angle: Gambling Sponsorship 56:01
The conversation shifts to a detail many people overlooked, that Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle campaign coincided with promotion of a new sports betting company, similar to a prediction market for sports. It comes out that even Daily Wire hosts like Matt Walsh have done ads for a betting platform called Kalshi, which strikes the speakers as strange given how vocal the same commentators are about protecting young people from corrosive influences like weed or porn. They argue gambling deserves the same scrutiny, since it is heavily marketed to young men and, unlike drugs, is treated as socially acceptable.
Gambling's Toll on Young Men 57:01
Citing research from the American Institute for Boys and Men, the speaker explains that legalizing online gambling in an area causes measurable spikes in bankruptcy and debt among young men. His wife shared statistics showing that about 30 percent of young men with gambling problems report feeling suicidal, and around 13 percent have attempted suicide, with gambling also damaging relationships and mental health. He suggests an evolutionary reason young men are drawn to gambling, a high-risk attempt to win big resources when they feel they have little else to lose, which makes them a uniquely vulnerable target for betting companies.
Why Women Get More Sympathy 1:00:02
The speakers argue that society is generally more protective of women than men, pointing to an X poll where respondents overwhelmingly said killing a teenage girl is worse than killing a teenage boy, even among misogynistic men. They suggest the real victims of the Sweeney backlash story are young men targeted by gambling ads, not women's sports, but that narrative never gained traction because women make a more sympathetic media subject. They also touch on gamma bias, the pattern where men's negative behavior gets highlighted while positive behavior is ignored, and the reverse holds for women, noting most Carnegie Medal recipients for risking their lives to save strangers are men, yet these stories rarely become dominant news frames.
A Distraction Theory and Closing Thoughts 1:03:32
One speaker floats a half joking theory that Sweeney related news cycles conveniently coincide with unflattering geopolitical headlines, like the Epstein files memo or a major spending bill, functioning as a distraction. They then discuss whether pointing out hypocrisy actually changes minds, agreeing it can work on individuals but may also trigger tribal defensiveness. The episode closes with a reminder that broad claims about either sex having it universally worse or better usually fail, since advantages and disadvantages are domain specific, before the guest directs listeners to follow him on X.
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