In an Instagram post announcing that she will be playing Christy (after paparazzi invaded her privacy while she was training and filming, might we add), Sydney herself credited the battles Christy fought. “Her journey is a testament to resilience, strength, and hope, and I’m honoured to step into her shoes to share her powerful story with you all,” she wrote.
And yet, Sydney’s work to tell such an empowered story has been reduced to commentary on her body. Because of course.
Aside from the fact that work towards a film that is all about female empowerment has been met with this reaction, let’s make another thing clear – it’s just not our business if a woman’s body, famous or other wise, changes in this way. Sydney’s impulse to clap back to her critics, just demonstrates the responsibility women so often feel to explain what’s going with their bodies. And they absolutely do not.
It stinks of a wider problem, for women whether or not they are famous, that society has normalised trolls meeting their work and bodies with such cruelty. No woman, movie star or otherwise, owes any of us an explanation about what she does with her own flesh and blood.
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In a past interview with GLAMOUR, Sydney spoke openly and frankly about how feminism and empowerment fed into her ultimately accepting and loving her body for all its strengths.“One of the questions I get is, ‘Are you a feminist?’ I find empowerment through embracing the body that I have,” she said. “That’s sexy and strong, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
She also spoke about previous times in her life where she has felt body shamed, including her impulse to cover up the size of her breasts with oversize sweatshirts, and her journey towards self-acceptance.
“I went through that process of covering my body up at such a young age, but once I became more confident with myself, [it changed]. I want to show girls that it’s amazing and beautiful and empowering to have the bodies that we have,” she said. “Everybody’s body is beautiful. When you are confident and you’re happy within is when it really shows to other people.”
So can we please follow Sydney Sweeney’s example here, championing self-acceptance, pulling away from body shaming, embracing all body types and acknowledging that any woman’s body is none of our business to comment on?
