This backlash isn’t unexpected and may very well be part of Carpenter’s design to get people discussing. Sabrina is known to satirise male incompetence and female image and sexuality. But is this a step too far?
Note from the Editor in Chief: It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Shea Marshall, a brand new contributor here at OBSCURAE! Recommended highly by veteran contributor Celeste, we hope you'll enjoy their thoughts on Sabrina's newest discourse just like we do!
Whether you love or hate it, Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover sure has people talking. The unveiling of her cover art for her upcoming album Man’s Best Friend- due out on August 29, 2025- has us all thinking and many are divided. To some, it is a bold subversion of power and gender dynamics. To others, it is a dangerously regressive image in bad taste.
This backlash isn’t unexpected and may very well be part of Carpenter’s design to get people discussing. Sabrina is known to satirise male incompetence and female image and sexuality. But is this a step too far?
People’s initial thoughts are important, not just what we think inherently, but why? As soon as I laid eyes on Sabrina on all fours, roughly held by her hair by a faceless man, I truly felt sad. I felt that women cannot escape being made into pornography. A degraded woman and an anonymous man are all too common in porn. I thought of young women everywhere seeing this and internalising it as a model for their own sexuality and role as a woman. I thought of men seeing it and confirming their misogynistic ideals. I felt hard done by. It felt wrong. Carpenter’s persona is entirely self-aware. Why did this feel so half-witted?
And I know what you’re thinking, ‘But Shea, it’s a statement, it’s art’, and I’m here to meet you there. I wanted to process why this was released. Carpenter’s current position, tying her sexuality and music, has her perfectly placed amongst the tradition of female pop provocateurs like Madonna and Britney Spears, who used their sexual image to gain agency and provoke discussion. This was often done at great personal cost. The discourse around Man’s Best Friend reveals the limitations of that tradition in the context of today’s internet, which is flooded with moral panic. Online, people accuse Carpenter of caving to the male gaze or normalising abuse, often without acknowledging her longstanding pattern of turning male expectations inside out.
Do I think women should censor their art just because men might misinterpret it? No. My innate reaction was to blame Sabrina for this outcome. Thinking deeper.... How can women ever make art for women if constantly held back in fear of men's reaction?
Our culture celebrates female empowerment in strictly dominant (a lot of the time, masculine) terms; there is little room for women who choose to portray themselves as sexually submissive, even as a critique, even in satire. Sabrina is sexualised every day against her will. Now, with complete control, she places herself in this sexually submissive role, and we scream ‘TOO FAR! TOO FAR!’.
I found myself teetering back and forth. I’ve settled on the notion that people can make the art they want, but you cannot deny that the art you make has an impact, no matter your intention. My initial criticism hasn’t vanished-because as a female in this society, how could it? But it has softened. This art has caused some harm; it is undeniable. However, art is reactive, and Carpenter can express her artful experience as a woman how she sees fit. Art isn’t always supposed to just sit there and make us feel safe. Sometimes, it pokes at the sore spots. Sometimes, it forces us to ask why we react the way we do.
Perhaps this cover is a trap for our own biases, maybe it’s a mirror held up to all of us, or maybe it’s just a messy piece of advertising.
Either way, it got us talking. And surely that was the whole point.
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