Victoria’s Secret has a new sheen of female empowerment

US Model Jasmine Tookes walking the runway at the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Criticised for its objectification of women, Victoria's Secret in 2019 abandoned its famed fashion show, a globally televised event that saw women parade down the runway in barely-there lingerie replete with gems, feathers and lace. — AFP

PICTURE a fleet of merchant ships far out on the glistening Pacific, each one carrying about 600, 000 tons of freight.

The cargo is curious: candy-colored strips, strings and scraps composed mostly of synthetic polymers from factories – some say sweatshops in places such as Sri Lanka and Jordan. It’s all dignified with the posh word “lingerie, ” which is French for “linen, ” though linen is almost nowhere to be found in the heaps upon heaps of petroleum-based morsels.