Do we think the nineties and noughties were so terrible for the treatment of women because the world is better now, or is it that we only see these things clearly in the rearview mirror?

From BBC presenter Russell Brand’s totally public history of loutish behaviour (recently reconsidered in light of new sexual assault allegations) to the sheer savagery pop starlets endured in the MTV era (perhaps peaking with the unconsenting release of Paris Hilton’s sex tape by her ex-boyfriend), it seems the recent past was filled with vivid examples of women’s sexualisation, shaming and discarding. It was personal, and particular. And no one knows that better than Britney Spears.