Why Women Criticize Sydney Sweeney: Evolutionary and Feminist View

The criticism directed at actress Sydney Sweeney by some women, particularly in contrast to the support for artists like Sabrina Carpenter, highlights fundamental differences in how men and women approach competition, self-promotion, and sexuality. This phenomenon can be understood through evolutionary psychology and societal expectations placed on women.

Evolutionary Tendencies and Competition

Research by figures like Joyce Benninsson, Marian Fischer, and Tanya Reynolds suggests inherent differences in how men and women compete:

• Women's Approach: Women tend to prefer leveling, avoiding direct competition, and sharing credit. They often downplay their achievements and are uneasy about taking sole credit for victories. This behavior is rooted in ancestral history, where maintaining group cohesion and avoiding making enemies was crucial for survival. Showing oneself as "above" others could lead to ostracization.
• Men's Approach: Men, from a young age, often thrive on clear rules of the game, with defined winners and losers. Keeping score and acknowledging individual achievement are important aspects of their competitive drive.

Sydney Sweeney's approach, characterized as "coming in all guns blazing" and aggressively prioritizing what men desire without self-effacement, directly challenges these traditional female tendencies.

The Contrast: Sydney Sweeney vs. Sabrina Carpenter

The differing reactions to Sydney Sweeney and Sabrina Carpenter illustrate this dynamic:

• Sydney Sweeney: She is perceived as openly competing and catering to male attention, as exemplified by a tweet comparing her to Sabrina Carpenter. The tweet described Sweeney as a "putter" (implying she's doing it for male pleasure) and cited an image of her naked with a football.
• Sabrina Carpenter: Despite also self-sexualizing, Carpenter aggressively signals that she is a "girl's girl," writing songs about men being "manchild," and is seen as doing it "for the girls." The same tweet described her as a "diva pop" and featured her in thigh-high stockings, with the quote: "The difference is that Sabrina does it because she feels good about herself doing it. Not encompassing our gender in hypersexualization for male pleasure."

This distinction highlights a key expectation: if a woman self-sexualizes, it is often deemed acceptable if it's framed as being "for the girls" or as a form of "fighting the patriarchy." However, if it's perceived as primarily for male attention or validation, it draws criticism from other women.

The "Female Group" and Signaling

Women are expected to vocally signal their empathy and care for other women's concerns. Sydney Sweeney, by not aggressively fighting the patriarchy or signaling support for causes typically championed by women (like Palestine), and instead appearing to align with male interests, is seen by some as "leaving women vulnerable." This is because "things men care about sometimes can leave women exploited."

Feminism's "Stress Test"

A notable tweet by "Stephanie" eloquently captures the irony of the situation:

"Sydney Sweeney is the funniest stress test feminism has ever encountered because I thought it was the patriarchy that reduces women to their bodies, denies them individual agency, and imposes rules on female sexuality based on what everyone else thinks women ought to be. Meanwhile, Sydney is independently wealthy, produces her own projects, owns businesses, chooses to monetize her own sexuality, gains power from doing it, and appears completely uninterested in anyone's permission. And somehow the feminist response is thousands of women materializing to explain that her body is actually a collective political resource and she has a responsibility to use it in ways they approve of because otherwise she's set in women back 100 years. lol. So congratulations ladies. You defeated the patriarchy by becoming an enormous decentralized committee of women policing another woman's sexuality scolding her for appealing to men and reminding her that individual choices must remain subordinate to what is best for women as a class. Perhaps the funniest part is that the men supposedly enforcing this grand patriarchal system are mostly standing off to the side like, 'Sydney seems great. Let her cook.' While the feminist liberation committee is furiously drafting new regulations for what she's allowed to do with her own gigantic knockers, incredible operation. You guys are killing it. Extremely boss babe, very liberation. No notes."

This perspective argues that the criticism of Sweeney mirrors the very patriarchal control over female bodies and sexuality that feminism aims to dismantle. It suggests a "puritanical" policing of sexuality within certain feminist circles.

The "Tall Poppy Syndrome" and Group Cohesion

The tendency for women to downplay their achievements, even when celebrated, is a form of "tall poppy syndrome." This behavior, seen in instances like girls receiving good grades and immediately attributing it to luck, serves to ingratiate oneself with the group and signal that one is not a threat.

This extends to social interactions:

• Compliments and Denials: Women often compliment each other's appearance but then deny their own beauty, saying things like, "Oh, I've gained so much weight."
• Negative Self-Disclosure: In female groups, sharing embarrassing or negative information about oneself (e.g., "what a mess I was in college") is a way to put others at ease. A woman who declines to do so risks being "shunned" for being "too full of herself" and violating the group's code.

These behaviors underscore women's "groupish" and "consensus-oriented" coalitional psychology, where "norm violators" are often met with disapproval.

Gamma Bias and Heteropessimism

The criticism of Sydney Sweeney also exemplifies "gamma bias" and "heteropessimism":

• Gamma Bias: This occurs when the gendered nature of something is highlighted, leading to different standards. If Sweeney appealed to "her own female sexuality," it might be fine, but appealing to "male sexual psychology" is deemed problematic.
• Heteropessimism: This is the idea that anything celebrating heterosexual male sexuality is morally suspect.

This bias is evident in how similar behaviors are judged differently based on gender. For example, a woman stating, "I deserve to have my sexual needs gratified by my partner," would be applauded as fighting for the "orgasm gap." However, a man expressing the same sentiment might be labeled as having "sexual entitlement."

Similarly, "benevolent sexism," which involves infantilizing women by doing everything for them, is criticized. Yet, the reverse—a woman cooking daily for her husband and not letting him cook—is not typically framed as her "infantilizing him." Instead, the man might be described as "weaponizing incompetence." This highlights how men are often "morally typecast" as aggressors or wrongdoers, even when they are the beneficiaries of behaviors that, if reversed, would be seen as problematic.