Olivia Rodrigo pushed back on the backlash over her babydoll dress on Wednesday, saying people should not be blamed when “some guy” sexualizes them in a way that was never their intention. Speaking on ’ Popcast, the 23-year-old singer said the criticism missed the point of the outfit and the conversation around it.
Rodrigo said she had worn revealing looks before, including a sparkly bra and little shorts, without them being called inappropriate. But when she wore a dress that some online commenters said looked childlike, she said the reaction crossed into something darker. “I didn’t think I looked sexy in that at all,” she said, adding that she felt like she looked like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love and felt “cool and comfortable” in it.
The criticism grew after Rodrigo wore a pink flouncy dress for the cover of her third LP, a similar blue one in the “Drop Dead” music video and, later, a floral babydoll dress with matching bloomers at Spotify’s Billions Club Live at Teatro Greco in Barcelona. Internet commenters accused her of sexualizing herself and promoting “pedo core,” charges she rejected directly on Wednesday.
Rodrigo said the outrage says more about the culture around women’s bodies than about the dress itself. “And it just shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture,” she said, arguing that girls are raised to believe it is their fault when men sexualize them. She said she is especially protective of younger women and girls and does not want them fed that message.
The debate around the babydoll dress also fit a larger pattern in Rodrigo’s image. She has previously pointed to punk figures such as Kat Bjelland and Love as inspiration for pairing baby doll dresses with unruly performances, using the look to challenge expectations of women rather than invite the kind of sexualized reading her critics imposed this week.
Rodrigo’s answer was not a retreat from the argument but a direct challenge to it: she said the issue is not what she wore, but a culture that teaches girls to police themselves for men’s reactions. In her view, the criticism of the Olivia Rodrigo Babydoll Dress was not a warning about taste. It was proof of the standard she was calling out.
