Paige Spiranac feels the outrage about female athletes showing off their bodies is hypocritical.
On Monday, Spiranac took to social media to fire back at people who claim female athletes over-sexualize their bodies. In a video titled, “I said what I said,” shared by PointsBet Sportsbook, which the golf influencer serves as an ambassador of, Spiranac showed photos of shirtless male sports stars, including Tom Brady and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“There has been a ton of discussion around female athletes and showing off their bodies,” she said. “People are saying, ‘Stop over sexualizing yourself. You’re taking women back. No one is going to take you seriously,’ and I think that is a big stinkin’ pile of s–t.”
Spiranac went on to name Forbes’ top four highest-paid female athletes, including Naomi Osaka, Serena and Venus Williams and Simone Biles.
“These women have a lot in common. First, they’re all athletic badasses, two of them being considered the greats of all time. They have business ventures outside of their sport, and lastly, they have all posed for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Women, they can actually do it all,” she said.
“Oh I know what you’re thinking, ‘Paige, a man would never ever show off his body for attention or over sexualize himself or do it for a monetary gain. Hmm, are you sure about that?”
Spiranac then showed a number of ad campaigns featuring shirtless photos of Brady and Ronaldo — along with NBA star LeBron James; soccer great David Beckham; gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps; basketball legend Michael Jordan and golf’s Rory McIlroy.
Spiranac, who has made a career out of sharing golf content while dressed in revealing outfits, has been open on social media about double standards between male and female athletes showing their bodies. Last month, the 2022 Maxim Hot 100 cover star took to her YouTube channel to address body-shaming comments and acknowledged that “getting criticized” is part of her job.
“I know my body is a big part of my brand and that comes with a territory, but it’s hard to maintain my ideal weight all the time for year after year,” she said in part. “I have to work very hard in the gym and with diet. It doesn’t come naturally to me. It can be defeating when people call out my body insecurities.”
Spiranac added that she feels “happy and healthy” and that she looks fine.