Sabrina Carpenter: Lolita Core for the Male Gaze?

 

The post “Who’s Afraid of Sabrina Carpenter?: The Alleged Pedophilic Fantasy & the Complexities of Feminine Performance” was posted on the Final Girl Digital Substack (Feb 04, 2025). In the post, the author wrote that after Sabrina released “Espresso”: “[...] the whole world was listening to Espresso, and all eyes were on Sabrina.

The author noted that while those eyes were on Sabrina, Sabrina typically performed in: “[...] a pastel pink mini skirt and corset featuring a heart shaped cut out at the chest, complete with her signature platform boots by Naked Wolfe.” However, the author was surprised by the number of comments posted on Sabrina’s photographs and videos that suggested that Sabrina: “[...] dressed like a little girl.”

Subsequently, the author: “[...] stumbled across a twitter thread of people discussing how Sabrina shouldn’t perform [dressed like a little girl] in such a sexual way when her audience contains children.”

The author related that the pedophilic fantasy referenced in the subtitle of the Substack “references aspects of the male gaze”, which is in reference to the lens created by men in art and media, which “[...] has inherently pedophilic qualities in nature.” And the author wrote that women have “come to internalize this representation of the female experience” and that women have been “[...] trained women on how to best present themselves within the context of being consumed.”

In addition, the author implied that Sabrina’s performances are “shaped by dominant Western colonial culture”. Consequently, Sabrina’s performances are “[...] deeply intertwined with infantilization, and the standard of the girl as the ultimate feminine representation rather than the woman.” And the author implied that Sabrina is pressured into appearing “youthful, hairless, submissive, docile, etc”

In a bit of hyperbole, the author opined that women are “trained since birth” [Emphasis added] “to perform in a way to be consumed” and that “all women” [Emphasis added] are “growing up in the context of consuming this media [and] have inevitably been influenced by this gaze.” Consequently, “by default this idea of the ‘pedophilic fantasy’” seeps into the subconscious of all women with “pedophilic fantasy” being defined as: “a fantasy that places juvenile feminine beauty on a pedestal.”

The author related that women are haunted by the “obsession with youth” and that women are conditioned to believe that their “value is intrinsically tied to youth”. Relatedly, the author referenced Susan Sontag’s The Double Standard of Ageing where Sontag wrote that the standard of beauty is “the girl”.

Sabrina Carpenter as Lolita? (Source: Jade Hurley [Substack])

In terms of Sabrina Carpenter, the author reiterated that Sabrina’s performances, in “glittery pastels, and heart motifs”, which are associated with “juvenile girlhood”, are panderings to the “pedophilic male gaze”. The author wrote that, consequently: “[...] connections [were] made between the aesthetic of Sabrina Carpenter to the aesthetic of Lolita, [and] Priscilla Presley [...]”, which proves that Sabrina has combined “the aesthetic of childishness and sexuality.”

Additionally, the author argued that the “true common denominator” is Sabrina’s reference to the vintage aesthetics of the 50’s and 60s.

Jane Birkin and Sabrina Carpenter (Source: Cricket Guest [Substack])

Subsequently, the author referenced Jane Birkin’s song “Lolita Go Home” and Marilyn Monroe’s performance in Let’s Make Love (1960) where Marilyn performed “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and introduced “[...] herself in a hushed, girlish whisper: “My name is Lolita. And I’m not supposed to… play… with boys!”

BABYDOLL (1956)

In addition, the author related that, due to the name, the babydoll dresses worn by Jane Birkin, Sabrina Carpenter, and “countless” others represent the “complex intersection of infantilization and sexualization”. Connectedly, the author referenced Babydoll (1956) where Archie Lee Meighan, a middle-aged man, married ≈17-year-old Baby Doll. In the film, the age-gap couple agreed, at Babydoll’s father’s insistence, to not consummate their marriage until Babydoll’s 20th birthday. In the meantime, Babydoll slept in a crib and seductively sucked her thumb.

However, in a seeming contradiction to her premise, the author asked and answered the (rhetorical) question: “by wearing a babydoll dress are you catering to a “pedophilic fantasy” within the zeitgeist of feminine performance? Maybe.” And the author related that women reported that by wearing baby pink babydoll dresses, ribbons, pleated mini-skirts, and Mary Janes that they were not “pandering to an alleged pedophilic gaze” but that they were “[...] merely making nostalgic nods to their girlhood—an act of reclaiming it through a more girlish, frivolous way of dressing.” In other words, women argued that they have not “come to internalize this representation of the female experience” and that they have not been trained: “[...] on how to best present themselves within the context of being consumed.”

The author noted that: “[...] when we look at children’s clothing despite the lack of sexual dimorphism in pre-pubescent children, the clothing for girls is significantly smaller, tighter, and shorter than the clothing for boys.” But this is incorrect, because clothing for women, of almost every age, is often: “[...] smaller, tighter, and shorter than the clothing for boys [and men].”

Next, the author related that Sabrina’s “glittery pink corset” brought to mind Toddlers and Tiaras where toddlers in tiaras wore “makeup, heels, and corsets” and where the lines between “girl” and “woman” were blurred, which, the author opined isn’t surprising since we live in a culture where girls and women are taught to be: “[...] virginal teenage seductress[es]. Ambiguously youthful and sexually viable.”

Via Jade Hurley’s Substack post "Your Fave Is Selling a Pedophilic Fantasy." (Sep. 13, 2024), the author noted a purported connection between Sabrina and Nabokov’s Lolita. In the aptly named W Magazine piece “Sabrina Carpenter Knows She Has You Hooked” (Sep. 5, 2024), there’s a photo of Sabrina who: “[...] is laying on her stomach in a picturesque suburban backyard. The sun shines into frame, Sabrina is wearing a lacey white mini dress, as a backyard sprinkler doses water onto her already dampened body. This photo is undeniably a reference to the 1997 film adaptation of Nabokov’s Lolita.”

And a connection was made between Sabrina’s advertisement for Kim Kardashian’s Skims (2024) and the Rolling Stone piece “Britney Spears: Inside the Heart, Mind and Bedroom of a Teen Dream” (1999) where, then-16-years-old, Britney Spears was photographed standing in her childhood bedroom, surrounded by her stuffed animals and dolls, donning a pair of white short-shorts and a cardigan that barely covered her white bra. In Sabrina’s Skims campaign, she donned Skims lingerie along with lace, pink hair ribbons and white bobby socks in what appears to be a teen girl’s bedroom, which the author wrote is: “[...] subliminal[ly] signalling “teen girl” in order to sell lingerie”

16-Year-Old Britney Spears (ROLLING STONE)

I’m confused, because the target audience for Skims or Sabrina’s music is not middle-aged men, which the author confirmed by writing: “In the case of Skims, the primary demographic is women, with Kim Kardashian herself mentioning that the campaign was specifically aimed at Gen Z women and girls.” Yet, the author insisted, almost conspiratorially, that females cannot escape the influence of the male gaze, because females are “subliminally influenced” to perform for the desires of men.

Very interestingly, the author opined that Sabrina’s Short N’ Sweet tour was curated to evoke a “sleepover” energy; however, in a bit of a contradiction, the author wrote that Sabrina’s tour was “[...] deliberately built for her female audience [...] rather than being curated for the male gaze [...]” But then the author wrote that Sabrina’s tour was inevitably subconsciously influenced by men.

In the end, the author appears to have made a complete 180 from her premise and opined, possibly naively, that she doesn’t “think” Sabrina used the allure of nymphets to sell music, concert tickets, advertising for (online) “magazines”, and lingerie.

I don’t think Sabrina is trying to position herself as the “sexy baby” people are making her out to be. I don’t think she is pandering to a pedophilic fantasy. I think the examples such as the Skims Campaign and the W Magazine photo are symptoms of subconscious problems with the expression of femininity [...] I don't think Sabrina is actively or intentionally infantilizing herself nor do I think Sabrina is attempting to shield herself under the guise of girlhood [...]

On the contrary, I would opine that Sabrina has (repeatedly) used the allure of nymphets to sell music, concert tickets, advertising for (online) “magazines”, and lingerie. However, it appears that Sabrina has recently taken a bit of a break from using the allure of teen sex to sell. Currently, Sabrina is simply using sex to sell, which is exemplified by the content related to her newest release.

Poppie Platt posted on The Telegraph “Sabrina Carpenter’s over-sexed, degrading new album cover has gone too far: From Lolita marketing to on-stage sex acts and now a controversial cover for new album Man’s Best Friend, is Carpenter regressive for women? (12 June 2025) Of the album cover, Platt wrote:

Carpenter is pictured kneeling on the ground with her flowing blonde curls in the tight grip of a man’s fist, her hand teasingly placed on his upper thigh, eyes wide and mouth agape [...]

Sabrina in Daisy Dukes for "Manchild" Video

And Kristin Myers posted on Yahoo “Sabrina Carpenter Sizzles In Daisy Dukes For 'Manchild' Music Video” (June 7, 2025) Myers wrote:

Pop star Sabrina Carpenter is turning up the heat in her "Manchild" music video. The "Espresso" singer was oozing sex appeal as she showed off her lean legs in daisy dukes [...]