Sabrina Carpenter has addressed the constant scrutiny that she faces for her sexual prowess in a brand new interview with Rolling Stone, and it’s safe to say that it couldn’t have dropped at a more convenient time.

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In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years, Sabrina has faced repeated backlash for how she embraces her sexuality since finding mainstream success. It all started when she began to ad-lib incredibly NSFW outros to her 2022 song “Nonsense” during live performances, but things took even more of a turn following the release of her sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, in August.

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Listeners were shocked by some of the raunchy lyrics on the record, namely in the track “Bed Chem,” where Sabrina sings: “I bet we'd have really good bed chem / How you pick me up, pull 'em down, turn me 'round, oh, it just makes sense / How you talk so sweet when you're doing bad things, that's bed chem.”

As well as the now-infamous line: “Come right on me, I mean camaraderie.”

And when she kicked off the album’s accompanying tour, Sabrina leaned into “Bed Chem’s” sexual undertones by performing it on top of a heart-shaped bed, and a male dancer hinting that they are going to film a sex tape once the song ends. 

But it was another part of the Short n’ Sweet tour that went seriously viral on social media, and that is the “Juno” sex position. If you’re unaware, this is when Sabrina demonstrates a different sex position on stage after singing her lyric: “Wanna try out some freaky positions? / Have you ever tried this one?”

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And after one of her Paris shows back in March, Sabrina was at the center of some exhausting social media discourse when she made a cheeky reference to the city that she was performing in by enlisting two male dancers to demonstrate the so-called "Eiffel Tower" sex position, which involves one person on all fours in the middle of two men.

A clip of her giggling as she assumed her position between the men soon went viral online, and before long, the star was being criticized — with one viral tweet arguing that the "Eiffel Tower" position is “inherently degrading” toward women. 

Needless to say, this triggered a whole new wave of discourse, with many pointing out how harmful it is to perpetuate a narrative that any consensual sexual encounter is “degrading” for women.

And on Wednesday, Sabrina was facing even more online backlash, this time for the artwork for her upcoming album, Man’s Best Friend, which is due for release in August. In the image, Sabrina is kneeling on the floor in front of an anonymous person dressed in a suit, who is holding onto her hair. The star is looking seductively at the camera in the photo, and has one hand reaching up toward the person.

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Almost immediately after the image was shared, conversation erupted online, with Sabrina being broadly accused of being anti-feminist for the “derogatory” and “degrading” artwork.  

Once again, many others sprang to Sabrina’s defense as they repeated the argument that a woman showcasing her sexuality isn’t something that should be shamed or stifled, as well as pointing out that the artwork is actually a very obvious commentary on the public perception of both her and women as a whole — especially considering the album’s lead track, “Manchild,” is an overt attack on men.

Fans also drew attention to the fact that the album’s name is an apparent reference to dogs as they theorized that Sabrina is alluding to how men refer to women as “bitches.”

And while Sabrina’s new Rolling Stone interview was conducted before she’d unveiled her album artwork, thus before this latest round of discourse had kicked off, she still addressed the scrutiny she faces around her sexuality while in conversation with the publication.

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“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” Sabrina began. “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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“It’s in my show. There’s so many more moments than the ‘Juno’ positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can’t control that,” she explained. “If you come to the show, you’ll [also] hear the ballads, you’ll hear the more introspective numbers. I find irony and humor in all of that, because it seems to be a recurring theme. I’m not upset about it, other than I feel mad pressure to be funny sometimes.”

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Sabrina also admitted to the publication: “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 scrutinized in every capacity. I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now.”

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And as unfortunate as the current conversation around Sabrina’s work is, it’s safe to say that she probably anticipated it. Let me know your thoughts on everything in the comments below!

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