Nothing says feminism like a glittery corset, complete with a heart cut-out that exposes a tasteful amount of underboob. Don’t believe it? Then, please, please, please, read on.

Sabrina Carpenter’s meteoric rise, which began over the summer and has continued into the fall, has ushered in the next wave of feminism. Or, rather, it has revitalized the movement to empower women in the bedroom, which has stagnated over the last few years with the slow death of hookup culture.

For any readers unfamiliar with the childhood Disney star, Carpenter began her music career back in 2015 with her first album, “Eyes Wide Open.” Although she has released 4 studio albums over the course of 9 years, she experienced a sudden spike in listeners when she began ad-libbing endings to her hit song, Nonsense. With the release of her latest album, “Shot’n’Sweet,” the album reached N° 1 on the Billboard 200. Witty and easy to listen to, her songs delve deep into extremely delicate subject matter: female sexuality. Witty, cute, and romantic, Carpenter rejects the traditional boundaries that limit women’s expression of their sexuality by interweaving romance with lust.

The sexual revolution has come to a bit of standstill. Feminists debate whether it hurts or benefits women, less and less young women are having sex, and more and more are fetishizing traditional gender roles. Even in mainstream films that explore womanhood and relationships, discussions of women’s sexuality disappear. Take, for example, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which chronicled the titular character’s evolution from plastic to living flesh, and ended with Margot Robbie’s Barbie arriving to an appointment with her OBGYN. This cheeky scene brought light to women’s bodies, specifically their sexual organs, but steered clear of acknowledging the feelings that typically accompany such organs. This was an odd choice, especially considering an earlier joke that acknowledged Barbie and Ken’s shared ignorance of sex. This ignorance, then, became a facet of her identity as a doll, yet her new identity as a human does not include an awareness of this deeply human desire.

Barbie’s emission of female sexuality isn’t surprising, though, considering the mainstream values that still stifle women’s sexual freedoms. While more conservative thinkers might advise young women to keep their legs closed, the general public seems to be okay with young women having sex. They just don’t want to hear about it. After all, good girls don’t discuss it. Therein lies the problem: a condemnation of women that openly discuss pleasure and desire, as opposed to those who keep their mouths closed. Here we see the old archetypes of innocent maiden and wicked seductress reborn, but with an update.

These traditional archetypes reach back as far as Shakespeare, with Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet exemplifying the maiden. According to Evelyn Atieno for Affinity Magazine, this archetype “symbolizes purity, innocence, and often, naivety.” The seductress, on the other hand, “embodies sensuality, confidence, and often, manipulation.” In his article for Script Magazine, Danny Manus discusses the female archetypes running rampant in contemporary film and television. His list includes “The Hopeless Romantic,” “The Girl Next Door,” and “The New Girl In Town,” all of which share a lot of similarities with the “maiden.” Interestingly enough, he explicitly includes, “The Seductress/Femme Fatale.” Clearly, despite these archetypes’ dusty origins, they are alive and well.

Their updated versions can be found in two characters from the hit television show, Sex and the City: Charlotte York and Samantha Jones. While both are successful, single women in their thirties, York dreams of having the perfect husband, and blushes whenever brunch conversation veers into descriptions of her friends’ latest sexual exploits. Jones, on the other hand, decries marriage as an oppressive institution and delights in all those dastardly details that York shies away from. Here, we have the modern update to these dusty archetypes: the Maiden, who has sex, but has the decency not to discuss it; and the seductress, who uses men for pleasure as she simultaneously emasculates them. The former would never comment on the size of a man’s member, and the latter would never fantasize about having a child. Yet, Carpenter does both.

In her song, Juno Carpenter describes wanting to make her partner “fall in love.” The first verse, however, ends with a quip about a specific body part, with Carpenter singing, “I like the way you fit/God bless your dad’s genetics.” An undoubtedly raunchy way to begin a song about falling in love. The bridge of the song goes even further in showcasing how Carpenter embodies both of these archetypes, the romantic maiden and sensual seductress: “Adore me/Hold me and explore me/Mark your territory/Tell me I’m the only, only, only, only one.” Here, she’s inviting her partner to touch her, while also asking him to become hers and make her his only girl. Romance and sexual desire collapse into one another throughout this song.

This isn’t the only song where Carpenter challenges the divide between female archetypes. In Bed Chem, a song that explores Carpenter’s desire to sleep with someone, she references Shakespeare. The line, “Where art thou?,” alludes to Juliet Capulet’s famous line, “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Both Atieno and Manus include Juliet in their list of characters that perfectly embody the maiden archetype, making Carpenter’s allusion place her into the archetype of the sweet, innocent girl. Yet, the whole song centers around her seducing the object of her infatuation. The earlier line even ends with, “Why not uponeth me?” She may be sweet, but she’s definitely sultry.

Her songs aren’t the only avenue where Carpenter blurs the division between these two female archetypes. On stage, she often wears lingerie or tight, revealing dresses. One of her more iconic looks is a glitzy, gauzy corset with a mini-skirt and a heart-cut out in the center of her chest, providing just a dash of underboob. She debuted the yellow dress at the 2024 Governor’s Ball in New York City, and wore a black version to open for Taylor Swift in Mexico City. At Coachella, she sported a similar heart cut out that gave a peek to the small of her back.

Appearing on Valentine’s Day cards and little girls’ dresses, this cartoon heart tends to be associated with sweet, romantic love. In choosing to attach the heart to parts of her body that highlight her sexuality, Carpenter pairs this sweetness with lust. Considering that romantic love almost always accompanies sexual passion, this combination feels obvious rather than controversial.

In her songwriting and outfits, Carpenter demonstrates how one woman can have desires that defy the bounds of any one archetype. She can long for lasting, romantic love, and delight in the pleasure of physical intimacy. She can wear hearts on her costume, and show a little skin. She can embody the blushing maiden and the sultry seductress. And, if she can be both, then doesn’t that expose the paper-thin reality of these archetypes and the societal constructs they reflect?

With her songs about love, romance, and great sex, Carpenter has breathed life back into the women’s movement for sexual liberation.