It looks like we’re having a “cultural moment” around the very attractive Sydney Sweeney in the recent American Eagle Ad.
So, just forget the genocide in Gaza, the unmitigated suffering in Sudan, or the announcement that we are sending submarines with nuclear missiles to roam near Russia, or that telling the truth about labor statistics is enough to get you fired by President Trump. No, somehow this one ad moved our national conversation away from the many unanswered questions about Jeffrey Epstein, his alleged suicide, and who else was involved in child sex trafficking ring aside from Ghislane Maxwell. (Q Anon aficionados take notice: no sex trafficking has ever taken place at the Comet PingPong Pizza. See the blog post, Hating Hilary and the Child Eating Democrats.
So, not in Northwest DC, folks –– the answers to which “elites” are taking advantage of young children are elsewhere, perhaps on Epstein’s island, or in Pam Bondi’s “files.”
The American Eagle jeans ad, with the sultry, sexy Ms. Sweeney reminds us that we all too often put great emphasis on how people look, and that good looking people get all kinds of favorable breaks in life. (“Lookism” or “looksism” is a real thing and is arguably an unhelpful social norm; you can look it up.) As the old aphorism tells us, “You can’t tell a book by its cover.” But we tend to think we can; what has always been both common and legal in most cultures is that “beauty” (or, in men, attractiveness) is often seen as the outward manifestation of inward virtue.
A “model” like Ms. Sweeney (also a good actress, by the way) is –– literally –– an ideal that we hold as approaching some kind of perfection. Think of David’s Michealangelo’s marble statue of David, the young shepherd who slew Goliath with his slingshot.
The statue celebrates what Michaelangelo vision of the perfect male form. Of course, David could have been a major asshole but was not; he did vanquish Goliath with his slingshot and was reportedly a very good King for the Jewish people as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David
Would David be just as admirable as an image ––a perfect masculine form –– without action and character? Not really, but we so easily get hung up on “image,” not reality. But constantly telling women (or men) how they should look is bad for mental health and the overall productivity and happiness of a society.
“In the U.S. alone, the direct financial and well-being costs of body dissatisfaction and appearance-based discrimination reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars each year. For example, one study estimated $305 billion due to body dissatisfaction and $501 billion due to appearance-based discrimination annually.”
In addition, exposure to unrealistic beauty standards is linked to higher rates of eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and negative body image, and it’s not just a problem for women. Some 20–40% of men report dissatisfaction with their appearance; up to 82% of adolescent boys want to be more muscular, and many report trying to manipulate their diet or exercise to achieve this ideal. This dissatisfaction has tripled over the last 25 years, and some abuse of steroids and other drugs can result. In some instances, dissatisfaction can lead to “muscle dysmorphia”—a condition marked by obsessive preoccupation with perceived lack of muscularity.
Given all this, some degree of self-awareness and common sense would surely be wise; also, let us please not confuse “wise” with “woke.” A couple of years ago, my friend’s son married what men of my generation would call a “knockout.” She was, in the photos at least, a stunning brunette with a bounteous bosom, beautiful curves, a brilliant white smile, lustrous hair, etc. Indeed, as my friend showed us (much older men) the photos, you could feel the collective envy for this young man whom we believed was entering a life of marital bliss with this awesomely hot young lady.
But recently I asked my friend how the marriage was going. He said his son had to leave her: within weeks of the marriage, it became apparent that his wife had a violent temper, was verbally abusive, and selfish to the point of being malignantly narcissistic.
I also know older men who, forsaking looks for love, have found happiness with women who are honest, kind, smart, funny, and good in bed, regardless of wrinkles and unremarkable bodies. When you feel the loving presence of these women, hear the wisdom from their minds and mouth, you can feel their love of life, their inner warmth, and their physical features become far less of a factor.
Let us remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This is the core of King’s vision for a racially integrated and just society where we put greater importance on people’s character rather than their appearance.
So, if you can’t tell a book by its cover, why have so many “right-wing” commentators been complaining that “liberals” are being “woke” in pointing out that the American Eagle ad perpetuates old stereotypes and is (fairly evidently) part of the zeitgeist of our Trumpian times (white, blue-eyed, genetically gifted with the “right” kind of heredity), they only show how tethered they are to superficiality. They don’t want to appreciate diversity, and “brown-skinned” people from “shithole countries” are not welcome; only white is beautiful. They aren’t even consistent about their cultural criticisms, as the wonderful Desi Lydic from The Daily Show makes clear.
Aside from the obvious and snarky hypocrisy of Meagan Kelly, what’s especially weird and unsettling about the “conservative” critics is that some of the men seem really “turned on” by the ad. Doubtless, some of them have even been (at least mentally) masturbating to the thought of having sex with Sydney, a sad commentary indeed. We used to call that for what it was: lust. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. But a lot of the men scolding folks on the left for being “woke” on the left also apt to don the mantle of Christianity and claim that “the woke libs” are clearly in the grasp of Satan. See our PLBW post on “those Demonic Democrats.”
Anti-liberal “muscular Christianity” (look this one up, friends) easily morphs into “the man” being dominant in the household, telling wife and kids what’s right or wrong, “taking charge,” “fighting for Jesus,” and, in “America,” getting rich in the process. (See God Wants You To Be Rich, by Paul Pilzner). And of course, that “muscularity” can be a duplicitous, deceiving mask. Consider a man who projects an aura of strength and determination who may just be a heartless bastard intent on manipulating others for his own personal gain. (Is he a “man’s man”? Does anyone come to mind?)
If “America” is to move toward “liberty and justice for all” we must give far less weight to appearances. Too many young men and women are brought up to believe that what you look like matters far more than your talent, your intelligence, and your love for others. One of these days we may be able to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of appearances. Today is not that day. It’s perfectly legal to keep putting physical ideals front and center in ad campaigns that make many people feel deficient, but in some ways, it reveals that we are stuck in hierarchies based on our genetic credentials.
(As to “muscular Christianity,” my own experience in Protestant churches is that Jesus didn’t spend time lifting weights, told the Devil to take a hike when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness to be King of the World, took time to care about everyone. He notoriously befriended the outcast and the dispossessed.)
That said, it’s time to give Ms. Sweeny her due. She’s not just a pretty face with a beautiful body; her star turn in Anyone but You, with Glen Powell (another Hollywood role model for men) is a joyous hoot, so fun to watch. So, “not just a pretty face.” (Mr. Powell, by the way, is quite good in his role as well.) The trailer is here:
It’s all quite legal, and tiresomely typical, for advertisers to use sex to get more sales, and to idealize certain kinds of attractiveness. American Eagle may indeed have been flirting with a kind of exclusionary message, elevating blue-eyed, blonde as the nation’s ideal; but, maybe not, and in any case, please, being a bit more “woke” here might be socially useful; let’s look beyond the current cover girl “look,” and the cover of a book, in deciding the content of character and worth. Let’s appreciate that the outward appearance of a man or woman is just that, and only that; let us appreciate that all of us can be worthy of admiration and we don’t need to be depressed because we don’t live up to the idealized form of “manliness” or “sexiness” that corporations use to keep us trapped us in status games to make more money.