Over the past month discourse has flooded the internet over two pop culture icons. These women are actress Sydney Sweeney and singer Sabrina Carpenter. While typically they are in the spotlight for Sweeney’s famous roles in “Euphoria” or “Anyone But You” and Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” world tour, things have changed recently.
Now these stars find themselves facing criticism for creating content that some are viewing as degrading to women. This has brought the topic of feminism up for debate online, and many are discussing the thin line between female empowerment versus causing harm to the way society views the gender as a whole.
In early June, Dr.Squatch, a natural mens soap company released their newest scent called “Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss.” While it has been noted that there is no actual bathwater in the product, the name of the soap is a play on a meme that took over the internet over recent years.
This was started by a predominantly male audience requesting Sweeney’s old bathwater, mostly due to her attractive looks. In addition to Dr.Squatch selling the soap, Sweeney’s promotion of the product is what started the most controversy. In the commercial Sweeney is holding the bar of soap in the bathtub referring to her fanbase as “dirty little boys.”
Not only is the terminology Sweeney used seen as uncomfortable and strange, but many people felt as though the overall concept of the bathwater soap was a tasteless move from the actress. Commenters on social media were overall not happy, and many women felt as though it was wrong of Sweeney to monetize what is seen as the sexist, crude way of how men view her.
On the other hand, some women took another perspective that supported Sweeney from an entrepreneurial view, stating that if she was not able to stop the comments about herself she may as well make a profit.
Shortly after, Sabrina Carpenter took her new album cover to social media. The album, entitled “Man’s Best Friend,” is set to release in late August. While the former Disney star has been releasing music since 2015, her career did not fully take off till 2024 when she released her album “Short n’ Sweet” and embarked on a sold-out world tour to support it. While this album received endless amounts of praise and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, “Man’s Best Friend” currently does not have the same reputation.
The album cover features Carpenter in a provocative pose next to a faceless character in a suit, who can only be seen from the waist down but is presumably a man grabbing the singer’s hair. This cover has fans arguing that the image encourages patriarchal values, insinuating that women can be related to pets, more specifically dogs based on the title of the album. Some have even stated that it encourages domestic violence and promotes men having control over women.
The discourse of the album cover also reflects the current political climate where the government in the United States and governments around the world are discussing and acting upon removing many rights for women. Endless comments flooded Carpenter’s social media pages claiming that this was a highly insensitive image to release when there are women fighting for their bodily autonomy, equality and to end abuse.
However, others viewed the album cover in the same way that they did the soap. Commenters claimed that like Sweeney, Carpenter’s promotion of her upcoming album was the singer owning the way she is viewed by men and that was empowering.
In late June, Carpenter took an alternative album cover to Instagram of her simply hugging a faceless man.
“Here is a new alternate cover approved by God available now on my website,” the
singer wrote in the caption.
While the tracklist for ‘Man’s Best Friend’ has yet to be released, many are holding out for the music to be a way for the singer to redeem herself after the original cover release.
As for Sweeney, the actress is set to appear in multiple upcoming releases including the third season of
HBO’s “Euphoria” in 2026.
While it is unclear if these stars will have the same fame as they did before these controversies, it does send a message to other public figures to be conscientious about future media they release and how the public could view it.
