Gymnast Gracie Kramer voiced her opinion regarding an ad campaign by Novig’s Just Sports featuring Sydney Sweeney. According to Kramer, the campaign over-sexualizes female athletes through the male gaze.
Gracie shared her thoughts on the ad in an Instagram story, starting with an assessment of her experience.
“This ad is honestly infuriating. I’ve spent my entire life competing in a sport where female athletes have been oversexualized, reduced to our bodies, and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do,” she said.
According to the gymnast, this kind of marketing makes female athletes’ accomplishments feel meaningless.
“So to see women’s sports once again being marketed through the male gaze feels like a massive step backward. We should not have to take our clothes off to convince men that women belong in sports, or that we’re only worth watching if we’re showing enough skin,” she added.
This statement accompanied an Instagram post featuring a video montage of Gracie during her competition and training sessions. The post compared “what a woman in sports looks like” with the Sweeney’s ad and asked if Gracie is jealous.
“Because it really is that deep,” Gracie wrote in the post’s caption.
In her story, she repeated this thought but addressed it to everyone who would dare to consider her criticism unreasonable.
“And if you still don’t think it’s that deep, I invite you to do your best to empathize with every female athlete who has had to compete while simultaneously being objectified on the court, disrespected on the field, and oversexualized in the media,” she stated.
As the gymnast explained in the caption, she doesn’t usually discuss controversial topics.
“I don’t typically speak out on controversial topics, but to me, this isn’t controversial. This is about demanding respect for female athletes and protecting the future of women in sports. We have worked far too hard to be taken seriously to keep reinforcing the idea that our bodies are more valuable than our abilities,” she stated.
What do you think about it? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments!
