Music cover that put Sabrina Carpenter at the center of a controversy

The dissemination of the new album of Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friendit has already started giving something to say, and the reason is not exactly musical.

By announcing the project last Wednesday (11), the 26-year-old singer shared the album’s cover on the networks. In one of the images, a dog with a collar that brings the title of the album appears. In the other, Sabrina It appears in a canine position, kneeling before a man who holds his hair. The scene caused immediate stir.

Criticism arose from all sides, calling the image “misogynist”, “regressive” and “appealing”. “I love Sabrina, but this image bothered me too much,” commented a follower in Instagram. “It’s not an empowering at all, especially for those who have a mostly female audience.”

The Scottish organization Glasgow Women’s Aidwhich supports victims of domestic violence, also positioned itself against the cover, accusing it of perpetuating misogynistic stereotypes and reinforcing female objectification. “This is not a subversion. It is a return to old clichés that reduce women to objects or pets.”

But not everyone saw a problem. In the program The Viewthe commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin It minimized the repercussion: “Oh, please! It seems that we came back to the 1990s with this type of scandal. Album cover is to shock.”

Part of the public defended the singer, saying that the image is part of a critique of the way society still portrays women. “It may be uncomfortable to see, but perhaps that’s just why it works, like a mirror,” wrote the journalist Brooke Ivey Johnsonfrom Subway.

On social networks, many remembered that “retrograde” and “patriarchal” is to think that women cannot talk about sex or criticize the way they are seen, or as the name of the cover the “male gauze” (male look) says.

Until now, Sabrina did not directly comment on the controversy. But in a recent interview with Rolling Stonespoke about the criticisms he usually receives by letters and sensual performances:

People love to complain, but they are themselves who viralize these parts. Deep down, it is you who are obsessed with sex, not me.

Even if the cover of Man’s Best Friend Probably has a satirical intention, something that should be clearer when the album is released in August, it is important to remember that a woman has the right to express herself, feel and represent themselves as she wants. Instead of hasty judgments, what we need is a broader critical sense, capable of seeing nuances and respecting different forms of autonomy and artistic provocation.

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