In November 2022, The New York Times published a story, “New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells.” The article concerned the growth of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in women’s college sports and how some female college athletes, based on their large social media followings and conventional attractiveness, were being rewarded for “traditional feminine desirability over athletic excellence.”
The lead image of the article was of LSU gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne, wearing her gymnastics leotard while standing behind a balance beam. With a massive social media following and millions in NIL money, Dunne had become the face of this new era. And the placement of “Sex Sells” in the headline next to her photo was hard not to notice.
“…the new flood of money — and the way many female athletes are attaining it — troubles some who have fought for equitable treatment in women’s sports and say that it rewards traditional feminine desirability over athletic excellence,” wrote reporter Kurt Streeter. “And while the female athletes I spoke to said they were consciously deciding whether to play up or down their sexuality, some observers say that the market is dictating that choice.”
Dunne, who has previously criticized the story and its presentation to her, expressed similar thoughts during a recent appearance on What’s Your Story? podcast.
“They came to our gymnastics facility at LSU, took pictures of me. They said, ‘wear your team-issued attire, put on a leotard,’ and they took a picture of me standing in front of the beam, like any gymnast would, and then they blew it up on the screen and put the headline, ‘Sex Sells,’” Dunne said. “Okay, well, you just came into the facility and took pictures of me in our team-issued attire and blew it up on a screen… So I was like, ‘okay, well, this is crazy.’ And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that.”
The former LSU gymnast also shared that after mocking the Times on social media, that led to Sports Illustrated reaching out and offering her a spot in their swimsuit edition.
“I decided I was going to put that same picture that they posted and captioned ‘sex sells’ on my Instagram story and write ‘@The New York Times, is this too much?’ Because, come on, you know what you’re doing. You just put a picture of me in a leotard for clicks and then caption it ‘sex sells,” Dunne said.
“And then people loved that. They were like this is so great because no, it’s not too much. You’re in your team-issued attire, which is a leotard for gymnasts. There was a lot of positive feedback from that. So, Sports Illustrated reached out to my agent. I was so excited about that. That was always a dream of mine. There’s some legends and some amazing athletes that have been in Sports Illustrated.”
These comments echo comments she made in 2023 on the Full Send Podcast, when she called the article “BS,” and claimed the reporter asked her “weird” and “odd” questions.
“It was complete BS. I mean, they called me on the phone in November and they told me that they were going to write about my accomplishments and stuff, and I was like, ‘OK, for sure. That’s awesome. The New York Times. That’s huge,'” she said.
“The interviewer called me and he was asking me very odd questions. It was worded quite weird,” she explained. “He was like, ‘So, how does it feel to be a small petite blonde gymnast doing so well with NIL.’ I was just like, ‘Why does it matter that I’m petite and blonde?’ You can just ask me about NIL without you having to use these weird ways of saying it.”
Dunne also made several videos in response to the New York Times article after it was published.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.