Why has Sydney Sweeney become a culture war flashpoint?

Anyone But You star Sydney Sweeney has found herself in the headlines once again. And once again, it's not for something she has actually said or done.

A film producer has reportedly singled out the buzzy star for criticism, saying "she's not pretty, she can't act" and questioning: "Why is she so hot?" Rightfully, these comments have been met with criticism online.

Speaking at an event, producer Carol Baum – who produced Dead Ringers, Father of the Bride, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but now plies her trade making straight-to-TV Christmas movies – went to great lengths to put down the actor when she said: "There's an actress who everybody loves now – Sydney Sweeney. I don't get Sydney Sweeney.

"I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney's movie [Anyone But You] because I wanted to watch it. I wanted to know who she is and why everybody's talking about her. I watched this unwatchable movie —sorry to people who love this movie— [this] romantic comedy where they hate each other."

Baum was also reported to have said she asked the students in her USC School of Cinematic Arts' class on producing to "explain this girl" to her, and claimed that "nobody had an answer".

This isn't the first time Sweeney has been the subject of debate, in fact the Euphoria star has been the subject of a number of think pieces and hot takes recently with her looks being used by right wing commenters as a valid argument that "woke is dead".

Canadian broadsheet National Post earned ire for an op-ed that asked the question: "Are Sydney Sweeney’s breasts double-D harbingers of the death of woke?"

The columnist, Amy Hamm, argued that "we’re being starved of it because attractiveness is deemed immoral" and added: "We’ve spent years being chastised for desiring or admiring beauty — because beauty is rare and exclusionary, and to exclude is to hate — or so we’ve been scolded to accept by today’s diversity, equity, and inclusion fanatics."

While The Spectator also wrote a similar piece following Sweeney's appearance on SNL, writing: "For anyone under the age of 25, they’ve likely never seen it in their lifetime – as the giggling blonde with an amazing rack has been stamped out of existence, a creature shamed to the brink of extinction."

It begs the question: why has Sweeney become the focus of such conversations?

First things first: What is at the heart of the right wing argument about Sweeney and wokeness? That people are somehow not able — or allowed — to appreciate beauty any more? Perhaps. But the answer seems a bit darker than that, it's not that beauty isn't acceptable it's the argument that a certain standard of beauty isn't allowed — which, firstly, simply isn't the case, and secondly stems from a rather misogynistic viewpoint.

What the columnists of the National Post and The Spectator, and people of similar views online, seem focused on is objectifying women in an overtly sexualised way. It's seeing them as objects to be desired and little else.

This much is obvious from the Spectator's reference to Sweeney's "amazing rack" and the National Post's "double-D harbingers of the death of woke" comment. The actor is not being praised for her acting talent but rather the superficial, that her looks are being used as political acumen feels like a way for these commenters to put women in their place — so to speak.

Kristen Stewart put it well in her interview with Stephen Colbert in March where she commented on the reaction to her Rolling Stone cover in which she was pictured wearing a jockstrap. She reflected on the uproar it caused, saying: "female sexuality isn’t supposed to actually want anything but to be had. And that feels like it’s protruding in a way that might be annoying.”

The notion that the women of Hollywood should be seen in this way is not new of course, women have often been objectified on the silver screen from Bond Girls to Baywatch. Just look at the strong reaction that giving the women of the franchise more agency had, or the uproar that came out after it was revealed a content warning was being put on classic Bond films because of "outdated" views including the way women were treated.

Other figures who have been seen similarly to Sweeney in the past include Megan Fox and Sharon Stone, both of whom have found themselves objectified onscreen. For Stone this was a result of her star-turning role in Basic Instinct, for Fox this came about after her role in the Transformers franchise. Both women have something in common with Sweeney's current predicament, their looks have been the focus of much debate.

Stone previously reflected on fighting for herself in the industry, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "I broke a lot of glass ceilings on the top of my head. I want to tell you that it hurt. It hurt to get paid. It hurt to fight the studio heads. It hurt to make boundaries."

She added that it is key to keep advocating for women and minorities, and she hit back at right wing commenters by saying: "It is important to me that your diversity does not get wiped out by this anti-woke b******t idea in our country."

Sweeney herself has reflected on the continued interest in her appearance, admitting NME that "there’s not anything [she] can do" about it. She added that she thinks it's "important to be aware of everything and then use that information however I may well.

"But I’m just being me, that’s all.”

Watch: Hollywood producer says Sydney Sweeney 'can't act' and is 'not pretty'