Satire or a Step Backwards?
Fans and the public share mixed feelings towards Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘genius marketing’.
Carpenter shared the release date of her new album ‘Man’s Best Friend’ and not only her fans had something to say about it. The controversy stems not only from the title ‘Mans Best Friend’ but the anchoring image of her hair being held like a dog leash in the fist of a man’s hand whilst she kneels seductively, looking into the camera and touching his leg (Carpenter, 2025a). The visual suggests ideas of loyalty, obedience and ownership. This represents herself in alignment with tropes that ultimately reduce women to pets and props with the faceless man as a symbol of patriarchal power.
The reaction and attention it got across all platforms is intense with currently 5.2 million likes on her Instagram post.
However, this is not how everyone is interpreting it. It is speculated that Carpenter is performing this type of representation simply as a marketing ploy to get people talking about the album. The public have argued her subordination is softened by her exaggerated femininity, flirtatious personality, old schoolgirl vintage flare and girl next door charm. Though it is wholly understandable why people would question her so called marketing choices, the political climate in the US at the time of its release saw women fighting for their reproductive rights.
Devoted fans are passionate about the fact she is ‘in on the irony’ to justify her choices. While others are completely rejecting the idea and believe even as ‘satire’ it is regressive. Operating with the male gaze (Mulvey, 1975) she appears to become objectified by performing sexiness through a script shaped by the male gaze, even when males are not the intended audience. Highlighting media consumed by women does not guarantee freedom from patriarchal norms.
This is reflective of a wider critique of post-feminist culture. McRobbie makes a point that women in a post-feminist society are encouraged to see their actions as freely chosen. She notes that the social conditions which persist shape women’s choices while remaining obscured, due to the expectation that women are now responsible for their own choices (McRobbie, 2020). In this case, Carpenter may appear self-aware and ironic, yet her performances and self-expression still operate within enduring structures such as the male gaze (Mulvey, 1975).
Are we surprised about her choices? Previously she had been on tour and at the end of each performance she performed a new sex position following the lyrics ‘Have you ever tried this one?’ from her hit “Juno”. Fans called it her ‘Juno position’ and applauded her for her aspirational self-confidence and ‘doing it for the girls!’ or herself.
Relating to Carpenter’s self-presentation on tour, McRobbie argues how women are expected to take full responsibility for the choices they make even when their decisions are still shaped by existing structures of patriarchy (McRobbie, 2020). She considers how the burden of responsibility is put onto individuals rather than wider structural systems that ultimately pre-empt and control their outcome. Regarding Carpenter’s recent choices on how she presents herself, she is expected to take full responsibility if these choices are seen as anti-feminist.
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Her performances became so viral fans made products inspired by it.
The concept of popular feminism was identified following a shift in the mid-2010’s. Popular feminism is the idea feminism has become ‘cool’ and embraced by celebrities (Banet-Weiser, 2018). The damaging aspect of it is it tends to focus on individual empowerment rather than structural change. During this, it sanitises the movement making it appear more commercial. Signs of popular feminism can be acknowledged in Carpenter’s work, though she doesn’t explicitly label her content as feminist, a lot of it is centred around her own ideas of self-empowerment and confidence as a woman. Therefore, her fans expect her to uphold and promote feminist ideologies even just through subtle signposting. Though some people may not view the outcome of her self-presentation as any fault of her own, they are noticing how content can actively shape public consciousness around cultural and political issues without explicitly talking about politics (Leidig, 2023).
On Carpenter’s TikTok @marinanarapoula commented:
“…it’s giving DV. And in the current political climate? Tone deaf to say the least. Disappointing”
Her staying in the limelight is rather surprising. Although her still receiving criticism almost a year after its release reflects a point a peer made around how women are held to a much higher standard when making ‘mistakes’. Women are often more harshly ridiculed, whereas a-lot of male creators tend to power through and remain in the industry. Re-counting back to ideas around men having a default of impunity women cannot rely on (Banet-Weiser & Higgins, 2023). In the way Carpenter is severely criticised, this is reflected in popular culture also.
References
Banet-Weiser, S. (2018). Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11316rx
Banet-Weiser, S., & Higgins, K. C. (2023). Introduction: (Post-)Truth, Belief, Media, and Sexual Violence. In Banet-Weiser, Sarah & Higgens, Kathryn, Claire (Eds), Believability: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt (pp. 1–37). Polity.
Carpenter, Sabrina. (2025a). Man’s Best Friend [Album]. https://open.spotify.com/search/eviane%20Leidgid%20women%20of%20the%20far%20right
Carpenter, Sabrina. (2025b, June 11). My New Album, ‘Mans Best Friend’ 🐾 is out on August 29, 2025. I can’t wait for it to be yours x [Video recording]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@sabrinacarpenter/photo/7514726624718277930?lang=en-GB
Leidig, E. (2023). 2. Down the Rabbit Hole: My Red Pill Journey. In The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization (pp. 36–56). Columbia University Press. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7312/leid21016-003/html?lang=en
McRobbie, A. (2020). Feminism and the politics of resilience: Essays on gender, media and the end of warfare / Angela McRobbie. Polity,.
Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6
