When I first wrote about Sydney Sweeney in March 2024, it was because a blaring culture war discourse was forming around the topic of the young actress’ Saturday Night Live appearance. It happened again this summer, with her infamous American Eagle “good jeans” campaign.

Sweeney, 28, has been a lightning rod in the parley between the left and right, the woke and the anti-woke, and the chronically offended versus the perennially provocative. She attained an almost Helen-of-Troy-like stature within the culture war, her beauty — or, ahem, breasts — framed as weapons of destruction. One look at her and we would all seemingly go mad, either with desire or rage.

Many of us imposed our preferred narratives upon Sweeney — and it wasn’t quite clear where she stood. Nor did it particularly matter.

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