Olivia Rodrigo has addressed criticism of her wearing babydoll-style dresses, sharing her frustration with the online discourse on The New York Times‘ Popcast podcast where she said the controversy “really shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”
The Grammy Award winner wore the specific style of dress in the music video for her new track “Drop Dead” and in recent live performances. The fashion choice has sparked a conversation online, with some criticizing the look.
“That’s been making me so upset. Not even for me. People can say whatever they want,” Rodrigo said of the talk about her babydoll dresses. “What’s really disturbing is I feel like I actually have worn outfits that are maybe revealing on stage. I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts, which is my right, that’s fun, I felt cool and comfortable in that. And that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate.”
Rodrigo continued, “I just think it really shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture. And also it’s just this rhetoric that we’re fed as girls since we’re so little, which is, don’t wear that because then a man is going to sexualize your body and it’s your fault. It’s so weird.”
The “Deja Vu” singer explained that she wasn’t trying to look “sexy,” but that she rather “felt cool and comfortable” in the dresses. She added that she felt the style emulated that of Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love, two artists Rodrigo looks up to.
“I didn’t think that I looked sexy in that at all. I was like, this is so cool. I feel I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love, all these people who are my heroes, and I felt cool and comfortable in it,” she said. “I just think if we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want some fucking freak to think that I’m sexy like a baby,’ or some crazy thing like that, I think it’s losing the plot a little bit. I’m just very protective of younger women and girls, and I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric.”
Rodrigo is gearing up for the release of her third studio album, You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.
