The harrowing revelations in Britney Spears’s new memoir are an uncomfortable reminder of how women were treated in the ‘90s and noughties. Objectification, ridicule and “slut”-shaming were a core part of the so-called lads culture that shaped so much of popular culture at the time. Now, anyone thinking, “It can’t have been that bad,” should take a look at a video montage that’s been doing the rounds on social media. The one-minute clip was shared by fitness influencer Hayley Madigan earlier this month, with the caption: “POV: You grew up in the 90’s and now realise why your relationship with your body was so bad…” The round-up begins with an excerpt from an interview between Dutch TV presenter Ivo Niehe and a 17-year-old Britney. Somewhat breathlessly, he tells her: “Everyone’s talking about it…” prompting the teenager to innocently ask: “What?” “Well, he replies, your breasts.” It then cuts to American radio star Howard Stern telling former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith: “The way you dress and stuff, I don’t think you’re aware that you’re a heavy-set woman.” “I know I’m a big woman, so what?” she replies. He then tells her he’s been “guessing her weight” and asks her to step on some scales to check how well he did. We then see Scott Disick telling Kourtney Kardashian: “If I would have fallen in love with you a couple pounds overweight (sic), this would be my ideal weight, but I fell in love with you when you were super skinny." Next, it’s the turn of Simon Cowell, who tells an X Factor contestant that she “sounds nice but looks like a shop girl.” Clarifying, she says: “I’m overweight, basically,” to which he responds: “You really are.” Speaking of weight (and people did, a lot), we’re then treated to a clip from the now-axed Channel 4 show TFI Friday. The segment, from 1999, was filmed just two months after Victoria Beckham gave birth to her first son Brooklyn. After asking her how she got back into shape after the birth, host Chris Evans then asks if her weight was now “back to normal”. She tells him that “it is”, but he’s not satisfied. “Can I check?” he then asks, jumping from his seat and leading her to a set of bathroom scales. The penultimate excerpt is taken from a Jay Leno monologue, in which he tells viewers of his Tonight Show: “Monica Lewinsky said that President Clinton would often compliment her on her figure. “He would say things like, ‘Oh, you look skinny today.’” Pausing, Leno then doled out his punchline, saying: “You know, if you didn’t think this guy was the biggest liar in the world before…” which was met with peals of laughter from his audience. Finally, another scene from Keeping Up With the Kardashians, in which Bruce (now Caitlin) Jenner, tells his step-daughter Khloé: “I’ll get shot for bringing this up but don’t you think you should lose a few pounds?” Shaking her head dejectedly, she simply replies: “What?” The compilation racked up more than 5.4 million views and 200,000 likes in just three weeks on Madigan’s Instagram alone. In a statement accompanying the reel, the self-styled “female empowerment” guru wrote: “Whether it was in magazines, on talk shows or on reality TV… we continuously watched women get criticised. “We watched men talk negatively about women’s appearances, about their weight, about their body autonomy… and this complete disregard for women’s dignity forced a societal pressure amongst many of us who were growing up watching it.” Reflecting on her own response, she went on: “I constantly compared myself even at the young age of 12 I remember wanting to be as skinny as possible like the models on the TV. I had no desire to be anything but exactly what they looked like and I deemed them to be perfect. “I constantly heard negative opinions about women who weren’t perfect, women who weren’t small and women who didn’t fit the ideal stereotype that men created.” Wrapping up her message, she continued: “Seeing these talk shows and reality TV clips hits hard, women weren’t treated equally, we were continuously degraded and this put pressure on all of us growing up.” Then, concluding on a note of optimism, she added: “We’ve still not got to where we want to be but I feel somewhat change is happening and we will make sure the generations to come don’t endure the same pressure and issues we faced back then.” Commentators were quick to share their horror at the montage, with many condemning what they termed “male audacity” at the time. Others agreed with Madigan that it highlighted how far we’ve come in addressing such behaviours. “People often say ‘you can’t even say xyz anymore these days’,“ one wrote. “I think this video is a great testament that that is actually a positive development.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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Twitter users on Saturday were quick to point out that a quote shared by CEO Elon Musk had been misattributed to Voltaire – when it had in fact originated with a neo-Nazi. The billionaire tweeted a joke featuring a meme that showed a large hand crushing struggling figures with the accompanying words: “’To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.’ – Voltaire” Underneath that, the meme includes the joking comment: “we need to rise up against children with leukemia.” The very same “Voltaire” quote, however, was the subject of a fact-check piece last year from The Associated Press after Republican Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie shared it in a tweet criticizing Dr Anthony Fauci, also attributing the words to the French philosopher. “Enlightenment-era writer Voltaire did not say this,” AP reported. “The quote, which was paraphrased, comes from a 1993 radio broadcast by Kevin Alfred Strom, who has been identified as a neo-Nazi by organizations that monitor hate groups.” The AP continued: “The original quote from Strom, a self-proclaimed American white nationalist and Holocaust denier, has been used previously online and paraphrased in a variety of ways ... Despite the quote originating more than a hundred years after Voltaire’s death in 1778, it has been repurposed and incorrectly attributed to him dozens of times. In 2019, actor John Cusack tweeted the quote before deleting the post and apologizing.” On Saturday, Musk’s tweet remained for hours without correction or apology as users pointed out the inaccuracy, some with glee and some with scorn. “If only your ability to launch rockets or presidential campaigns was as good as your ability to launch misinformation,” tweeted commentator and author Keith Olbermann. “Voltaire didn’t say that. A neo-Nazi said that. 30 years ago. Good work, Elmo.” Another user, @HistoryUser, shared a Reuters fact-check link and wrote: “This was not said by Voltaire but by Kevin Strom, a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier. It’s a cool quote and I wish it had been said by a better dude, but it wasn’t, and so people should really stop using it. (And definitely stop saying Voltaire said it!)” The Independent has reached out to Twitter for comment. Read More Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink says it has US approval to begin trials in people EU official says Twitter abandons bloc's voluntary pact against disinformation DeSantis signed bill shielding SpaceX and other companies from liability day after Elon Musk 2024 launch Kimberly Guilfoyle threatens DeSantis: ‘You’re going to get hurt, and damaged – badly’ Donald Trump Jr shares doctored Office clip showing Ron DeSantis wearing a woman’s suit

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