Lottie McGuinness is 24 years old and has achondroplasia. And she has something to say about Sydney Sweeney’s ad.
When she saw the Novig campaign, featuring the actress almost naked and barely covered by sports equipment, she did not stay silent. She posted a video of herself lifting during a para powerlifting competition and wrote: “Respectfully, Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sports really look like”.
The Paralympian from Harrogate, England, said that as a child she would say she wanted to be “tall” when people asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, because she felt ashamed of her condition. Everything changed when she saw Ellie Simmonds compete. Today Lottie represents Team GB, made her debut in Paris 2024, and that day in the video she bench-pressed 112 kilos.
She says young men photograph her and make fun of her in the street, and that she learned to pretend she is Taylor Swift dodging paparazzi. Her message is not aimed at Sweeney, but at the idea that a woman’s body is only meant to be looked at.