As soon as Sabrina Carpenter announced her brand new album Man’s Best Friend yesterday, alongside the obviously provocative album cover, the bracing of oneself for the onslaught of discourse was serious business. As soon as I glimpsed the instantly iconic (for whatever reason it needs to be iconic for) image, which shows Sabrina Carpenter on all fours as a man grabs her hair in a fist, you know full well that we’re about to see pearl clutching on a magnitude we’ve seen over and over again. Madonna, Britney – the ones that came before have all endured this. But now it is the turn of Sabrina Carpenter, who just released a song named Manchild and is clearly on the front foot of how to handle her sexualisation, and the most exhausting responses and discourse to her new album cover.
Here are some of the most tedious takes, and why artist should have the right to provoke with their art without a bizarrely conservative response to someone who’s done nothing but poke fun with winks and nudges at her own sexuality and the role of women in music since she hit the big time.
She’s ‘dehumanising women’
no, sabrina carpenter is not centring men. she is dehumanising women. get it right. pic.twitter.com/qB0kxYtSaI
— gregory house ex wife (@elektracult) June 11, 2025
I do not wish to centre myself as a man in the midst of this particular discourse, when I feel like the only person who should comment on what she’s doing is Sabrina herself. Which she has done. One take says she’s “dehumanising women” with her new album cover. I can’t help but think in the era of Bonnie Blue discourse has made us more sensitive, and the Stan Twitter desperation to have a critique of anything a female artist does that isn’t something their favourite might do has resulted in a very Mary Whitehouse-esque vibe in the online sphere.
Sabrina herself has said in her recent Rolling Stone profile regarding the scrutiny: “”I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I truly feel like I’ve never lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinised in every capacity. I’m not just talking about me.”
Women’s Aid slate the cover for ‘promoting violence’
Women’s Aid in a Facebook statement said that the album, which they haven’t heard, has “an element of violence and control”.“Picturing herself on all fours, with a man pulling her hair and calling it ‘Man’s Best Friend’ isn’t subversion,” the statement read.
“We’ve fought too hard for this. We get Sabrina’s brand is packaged up retro glam, but we really don’t need to go back to the tired stereotypes of women.
“Sabrina is pandering to the male gaze and promoting misogynistic stereotypes, which is ironic given the majority of her fans are young women.”
To me, knowing Sabrina Carpenter and her art, this reaction to the album cover is missing the knowing way she is doing this. As Madonna wasn’t when she released Erotica and Britney wasn’t when she dropped I’m A Slave 4 U – it is not the job of pop stars to be any sort of role model – just to make their art and push the boundary in the way they see fit.
The right wing press are blasting it as ‘degrading’
But let’s face it, when did anybody give two sh*ts about what the Telegraph to the Daily Mail had to say about pop culture?
Those that get it
Cue “feminists” on here talking about how being a woman who might want your hair pulled a little bit during sex means you’re doing misogyny but what’s actually misogynist is transposing patriarchal frameworks and their baggage onto female desire instead of centering the latter https://t.co/UvpkI38oXc
— Deep Impact Crier (@deepimpactcrier) June 12, 2025
In a very well put tweet, @deepimpactcrier calls out self titled feminists on how they’ve perceived the cover. It reads “Cue ‘feminists’ on here talking about how being a woman who might want your hair pulled a little bit during sex means you’re doing misogyny but what’s actually misogynist is transposing patriarchal frameworks and their baggage onto female desire instead of centring the latter.”
Another very well put comment reads “A lot of people acting like women being sexually submissive is for the male gaze and women being sexually dominant is empowering. It’s actually all just sex stuff! Hope this helps!”
As for Sabrina Carpenter herself, on the responses to her purposely provocative album cover? She says to Rolling Stone “It’s always so funny to me when people complain. They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.”
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