Keeping it Together: Sabrina Carpenter and how sex is changing

Grammy-nominated pop star Sabrina Carpenter channels her desires into nearly every song on her latest album, "Short n' Sweet." But one track in particular, "Juno," has gotten her into trouble.

Hello! I'm Alyssa, a wellness reporter here at Paste BN, and this week, I looked into how hookup culture and sex is changing, and what Carpenter has to do with it.

Each night on her arena tour, Carpenter flaunts a sequined mini skirt and croons, "Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?" while mimicking a sex position onstage. In November, she pantomimed oral sex with her microphone in front of over 17,000 fans and the backlash was swift, with one observer commenting that she was "one step away from starting an OnlyFans."

Fans came to Carpenter's defense, with one saying that the singer "expresses heterosexual sexuality in a way that is woman focused." But still, others said her performance "has to be male-focused."

This debate is actually focusing on a “false dichotomy," argues Leora Tanenbaum, author of the forthcoming book “Sexy Selfie Nation: Standing Up For Yourself in Today's Toxic, Sexist Culture."

The question instead may be: Is the heated response to Carpenter’s display of sexuality indicative of a cultural shift in how we think about sex, dating and hookup culture? 

The discourse around her is coming at a time where a rise in disdain for no-strings-attached hookups has been prevalent. Recently, a tweet that said "there is no such thing as casual sex" accumulated nearly 250,000 likes on X, and another post went viral claiming that “hook up culture doesn’t benefit women."

You can learn more about Carpenter and how dating is evolving here and find these other fascinating reads from the week below.