If you've watched even five minutes of HBO's Euphoria, you'll know the series isn't afraid to show a little skin (and, by a little, we mean a lot). In fact, it's something which Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie on the hit show, has been relatively open about as of late – especially when it comes to the "double standard" between male and female actors who choose to get naked on screen.
To recap, speaking to The Independent last month, the 24-year-old called out the way that women who do nude scenes are treated differently to their male counterparts. "When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it's completely different," she said, pointing out that there is a "stigma against actresses who get naked on screen".
As for how she feels this has impacted her own career, more recently she told Cosmopolitan US that she wasn't without her concerns. "When I saw The Voyeurs for the first time, I wondered if I'd done too much," she admitted. "I researched celebrities who have done nude scenes, trying to make myself feel better."
Sydney continued: "There are hour-long compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who win Oscars and get praised for that work. But the moment a woman does it, it degrades them. They're not actresses. They just take off their tops so they can get a role."
It's something she says she's sadly already experienced. "I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off," she pointed out, before revealing her role on The White Lotus had been a "turning point" for which she received plenty of praise as an actor.
"There's such a double standard," she said of how women who do nude scenes are treated. "I really hope I can have a little part in changing that."
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As well as touching upon the stigma surrounding nude scenes in Hollywood, the 24-year-old also opened up about how she copes with watching her own scenes back. "I'm so disconnected from it," she said. "When I get tagged in Cassie's or The Voyeurs' Pippa's nudes, it feels like me looking at their nudes, not Sydney's nudes."
She added: "When you film one of these scenes, it is so technical and so not romantic. There are people staring at you, there’s pads between you, there’s nipple covers and weird sticker thongs all up in your butt."
