今日吃瓜

Right-wing conspiracy theorists are now claiming Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney is transgender, in the latest unhinged “transvestigation” to hit the internet.

鈥�Tranvestigations” see celebrities and other high-profile figures targeted with accusations of secretly being transgender and having had gender-affirming surgery, relying on racist, in which physical features are heavily scrutinised as being either male or female.

Earlier this week, X user p8stie posted two photos of Sweeney in a black blazer captioned, “Why is Sydney Sweeney鈥檚 neck so much wider than her head ? I鈥檓 starting to get really worried that she鈥檚 actually a man,” with the post hitting more than 5.5 million views at the time of writing.

Sweeney, who has spoken about taking “every single sport possible” throughout her childhood, last year undertook three and a half months of intense training for her role in boxer Christy Martin’s biopic, during which time she gained more than 30 pounds. However, even if her body hadn’t undergone such notable change, it’s clear that she would have been targeted anyway.

As per from Pride.com, members of the Facebook group 鈥淭ransvestigation Disclosure NOW 2.0鈥� have been focusing on Sweeney’s “narrow hips” and the structure of her clavicle, with a post from October 2024 claiming she “is deceiving a lot of people but his male anatomy speaks for itself”. Members of the same group also accused both late political pundit, Charlie Kirk, and his widow Erika of being trans last year.

No escape, even for MAGA darlings

The accusations have arisen despite Sweeney gaining a somewhat popular profile in conservative circles after starring in an American Eagle ad based around the entendre of “good jeans”, which some criticised for its nod to eugenics and white supremacy. The ad went on to become a rallying point for MAGA conservatives, and was even praised by President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post as “the HOTTEST”, who also commended Sweeney for being a registered Republican.

If someone like Sweeney, who has a number of so-called “ideally feminine” attributes, can fall victim to these sex-based purity standards, it’s proof that the evidence upon which they base these accusations on is entirely unfounded.

The impact of these campaigns is finally being recognised on a legal scale, with those perpetuating them facing actual consequences. Earlier this year, a French court found ten people guilty of cyberbullying first lady Brigitte Macron after they posted 鈥渘umerous malicious comments鈥� falsely claiming that Macron was born a man.

notes that the movement of transvestigations began around 2017, and initially targeted Black women including Michelle Obama and Serena Williams, accusing them of secretly being men in a racist and transphobic attempt to discredit their achievements.

A 2021 report from the Wilson Center called the phenomenon, 鈥渄eeply misogynistic鈥�.

鈥淭hese narratives tap into the trope of the duplicitous woman, implying that not only are transgender individuals inherently deceptive, but that this deception is responsible for the power and influence that these women hold,鈥� it detailed.