Sinead O’Connor: ‘Britney’s schoolgirl outfit was inappropriate’

Sinead O’Connor has criticised the outfit Britney Spears wore in the music video for …Baby One More Time.

Spears was 16 when she wore the now iconic schoolgirl outfit in the video for her 1999 debut single. At the time, some pop culture commentators criticised the video for the sexually provocative way in which it portrayed the teenager.

During a recent radio interview, O’Connor highlighted the video as an example of the premature sexualisation of young popstars, saying: “Britney Spears, of course, was quite inappropriately young to be sold in that way, dressed up in a school uniform.”

O’Connor continued, telling Magic FM listeners that “the guys are going through it [sexualisation at a young age] too.”

O’Connor then compared controversial popstar Justin Bieber to Spears, suggesting that he was “sold on his sexuality” when he released his early singles.

“I think that people focus an awful lot on the female aspect to this, but it is also the males. The very young male artists who are practically children or look like children are also being sexualised,” she said.

“Justin Bieber is a great example. When he came along he was only 16 years of age. Obviously he was extraordinarily talented, so I’m not trying to negate that, but he was very much being sold on his sexuality.”

Meanwhile, O’Connor recently debuted the video for her new single Take Me to Church – watch it here.