Olivia Rodrigo Rebuts Backlash, Calls It Out as Normalized Pedophilia — Olivia Rodrigo Outfit Backlash

Olivia Rodrigo used her Wednesday appearance on ’ Popcast to confront the olivia rodrigo outfit backlash over the babydoll dresses she wore while promoting her third LP. She pushed back on the idea that she was sexualizing herself, saying the blame belongs elsewhere.

The 23-year-old singer said, “you shouldn’t be responsible for some guy sexualizing you in a way that was never your intention.” She added, “And it just shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”

Rodrigo’s dress choices

The criticism centered on a pink flouncy dress used for the album cover, a similar blue dress in the “Drop Dead” video, and a floral babydoll dress with matching bloomers she wore at Barcelona’s Teatro Greco for Spotify’s Billions Club Live. Internet commenters accused her of sexualizing herself and promoting “pedo core,” even though she said the fully covered dress was read as childlike.

Rodrigo said she had already worn revealing outfits on stage, including a sparkly bra and little shorts, and argued that the covered look was not what critics made it out to be. “I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra, little shorts, which is my right,” she said.

Kathleen Hanna and Courtney Love

Rodrigo also tied the look to the punk lineage she has cited before, saying, “This is so cool. I feel like I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love.” She said she was protective of younger women and girls and did not want them to absorb the same message that clothing choices can be used against them.

“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 am sexy like a baby,’ or some crazy thing like that… I just think it’s like losing the plot a little bit,” she said. That leaves the conversation where it should be: on the standards being placed on women’s clothes, not on whether Rodrigo’s outfit was too much for the stage she was actually on.