Francesca Sylph
Sabrina Carpenter has been criticised for ‘oversexualising’ herself, prompting hundreds of complaints to Ofcom after her pre-watershed BRIT Awards performance – but who’s afraid of the pop princess?
When Sabrina Carpenter dropped to her knees in front of a King’s Guard onstage at The BRIT Awards, jaws across the country dropped too.
As a casual consumer of Carpenter (I didn’t spend the whole of last summer streaming Short n’ Sweet, but I could occasionally be heard muttering “that’s that me espresso” on repeat), I wasn’t surprised to see such a risqué performance. She often mimes sex positions on stage.
Under a video of Carpenter performing ‘Juno’, the viral meme, “I’m 17 and AFRAID of Sabrina Carpenter,” was born.
Although the tweet is unquestionably absurd, there is a sliver of truth behind the sentiment. Diehard fans of Carpenter, please don’t hate me. I am about to dissect your fave’s (potentially problematic) pop princess persona.
From Disney Star to Pop Princess
The singer first rose to fame on the Disney Channel show Girl Meets World. Like many child stars before her, she has undergone a dramatic rebrand.
Gone are the days of graphic tees and boho dresses. Goodbye, suburban girl-next-door! The Disney-approved style has been replaced with a hyper-feminine vintage vibe.
It’s giving Barbie and Brigitte Bardot. Glitzy and glamorous. It’s also a little… girly?
When I say ‘girly’, I don’t just mean feminine, and although her lyrics are maturing, her persona is regressing.
When is Sex Positivity No Longer Positive?
There’s no question about it. Carpenter is, in her own words, “so f**king horny”, as she sings the ‘Juno’ lyric to sold-out arenas across the world to crowds of women and girls scream it right back.
Cosmopolitan has called her sex positivity “radical,” claiming that her “horny representation” empowers women to embrace their sexuality.
On the surface, this may seem like a good thing, as at its most positive, sex positivity encourages ownership over your own body and sexuality.
It means having whatever kind of sex you want with partners who respect you, as well as no one at all, as well as feeling free to explore your sexuality in a safe environment.
It’s about having boundaries and understanding consent, but the thin line between progressive and regressive can be easily twisted.
At its worst, sex positivity demands all women be constantly up for it.
Enjoying sex becomes synonymous with enjoying all sex. Having any sort of boundaries becomes synonymous with sex negativity.
How can you really be sex positive if you don’t want to be choked? At its worst, sex positivity births the Bonnie Blue’s of the world, claiming that sleeping with 1,000 men in a day is the marker of a “healthy sex life”.
Carpenter has built a brand around being “so f**king horny” that there is no room for anything else.
Her pop princess persona may be fun and flirty but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely harmless.
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Image courtesy of Justin Higuchi on Wikimedia Commons. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
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