‘sabrina has always embraced sex in an empowering, tongue-in-cheek way.’<\/span><\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]Her first album, Emails I Can\u2019t Send, was far from the campy, overtly sexual Carpenter we\u2019ve come to love in music, on-stage and in interviews. A layered exploration of her childhood \u2013 particularly how her father cheating on her mother impacted her – and subsequent relationships throughout adulthood, it offered insight into her psyche far beyond what we\u2019ve seen in her latest more radio-friendly hits. Short \u2018N\u2019 Sweet brought forward her witty lyricism and tongue-in-cheek humour, but it\u2019s sexual nature was far from shallow \u2013 it saw her embrace her sexual agency in an empowering way while also making men the butt (pun intended) of the joke. Among more introspective songs about the role sex plays in her life, the album largely berated men in her hilariously witty, ironic way.<\/p>\n
The latest single from her new album, Manchild, is much the same. With that in mind, one can assume that her new album cover is perhaps an attempt at satire. But does it quite land? I\u2019d argue no.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m beyond familiar with Carpenter\u2019s unique brand of wit, it\u2019s what first drew me to her music. But like many other fans, my instant reaction to the cover was discomfort. In the current socio-political climate, where boys are encouraged to view women as sexual objects with the popularity of bad actors like Andrew Tate and Bonnie Blue and where women\u2019s rights to their own bodies are being rowed back around the world, it does feel regressive.<\/p>\n
I love how sexual Carpenter is \u2013 it\u2019s so fun! Beyond that, it invites women to embrace their sexual agency boldly at a time when young people are being more and more influenced by conservative values that undoubtedly lead to puritanism. Carpenter has faced such criticism in the past, facing backlash for risque dance routines, suggestive lyrics and for wearing lingerie on stage. <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2175963076-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”Sabrina Carpenter” title_text=”Sabrina\u00a0Carpenter – Short n\u2019 Sweet Tour”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]
\u2018My message has always been clear \u2014 if you can’t handle a girl who is confident in her own sexuality, then don’t come to my shows,\u2019 she told reporters in response last year. \u2018Female artists have been shamed forever. In the noughties it was Rihanna, in the nineties it was Britney Spears, in the eighties it was Madonna \u2014 and now it\u2019s me. It\u2019s essentially saying that female performers should not be able to embrace their sexuality in their lyrics, in the way we dress, in the way we perform. It is totally regressive. It\u2019s like those who want to shame don\u2019t make comments when I talk about self-care or body \u00adpositivity or heartbreak, which are all normal things a 25-year-old goes through. They just want to talk about the \u00adsexual side of my performances.\u2019<\/p>\n
I was, and still am, in full agreement with her sentiment above. But that\u2019s not what this current criticism is. To me, there\u2019s a difference between embracing sex in a way the centres female pleasure, talking about sex in an honest and self-aware way, versus creating imagery that caters to male fantasies. Sure, some women can and do enjoy being submissive sexually, they might see Carpenter\u2019s album cover and think \u2018Love it, representation for submissive women like me!!\u2019 But let\u2019s be honest, sexually submissive women are represented everywhere \u2013 so much, in fact, that when a piece of art about female dominance in sex is made, it makes headlines.<\/p>\n
As fans and as women, one might see Carpenter\u2019s cover and understand her intentions. You might listen to her lyrics and explore the deeper meaning, have thoughtful conversations with friends about how smart they are. But are men doing that? Are the majority of people who aren\u2019t Carpenter fans capable of seeing the supposed satirical nature of the cover? Are the younger women and girls seeing it for the first time understanding the message? I\u2019d argue no to all of the above. They see an image of a woman on her knees being walked like a dog and do exactly what not have done in her comments: take it at face value.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what conflicts me about this cover \u2013 it could be a smart take on female sexuality and how she\u2019s perceived by the public, but for the most part, that\u2019ll go over people\u2019s heads and in the meantime, all it represents is the same sexual objectification women have suffered the repercussions of for decades. That said, is it Carpenter’s job to make men, non-fans or younger women and girls understand her art at face value? Many would say no. And so, the inner conflict continues…\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]
Photos: Getty<\/b><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is it satire or sexual objectification at its finest?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-news"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10810"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10817,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810\/revisions\/10817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}