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Author Topic: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'  (Read 10615 times)

Offline Ian

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #30 on: February 01, 2018, 06:31:13 PM »
What puzzles me about these 'feminist's' Jeri is that they are so fond of saying that it's a woman's body to do with as they wish, but now they're saying the opposite through which they've got the big business's taking away these women's incomes, seems a bit hypocritical to me.
An aircraft landing is just a controlled crash.

Online Jericoke

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2018, 08:25:58 PM »
What puzzles me about these 'feminist's' Jeri is that they are so fond of saying that it's a woman's body to do with as they wish, but now they're saying the opposite through which they've got the big business's taking away these women's incomes, seems a bit hypocritical to me.

I agree that the mixed messages are confusing at best.  The grid girls in F1 are going to be treated fairly, in terms of pay and security.  I'm sure that hasn't always been true, but I would be it is (was) true for the last decade or so.

It's not about protecting the women who can take care of themselves, and you're right, these women are victims of this decision.  It's about protecting women further down the foodchain. For every grid girl at an F1 race there are thousands of women hanging around race tracks trying to find self worth from the attention of fans and drivers.  They're not always going to be treated fairly and safely.  As long as people associate beautiful women with racing, women will try to associate themselves with racing to feel beautiful. 

Offline Andy B

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #32 on: February 02, 2018, 05:10:29 AM »
Once you have retired every day is a Saturday!

Offline Scott

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #33 on: February 02, 2018, 07:33:12 AM »
The only politically correct thing to do is to bring in Grid Old Guys.  Where do I sign up?
The Honey Badger doesn't give a...

Offline Monty

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #34 on: February 02, 2018, 11:18:51 AM »
I know I am a dinosaur but I will miss 'grid-girls'. All through my motor racing 'career' there were always promotion girls involved. Even when I first started Karting my girlfriend would act as a 'brolly dolly' - this being what she called herself.
In later years, when I tried my hand at Superbike racing, there were always 'grid girls'. Some were girlfriends & wives, some were sisters, others were professionals. They all seemed to love what they did, they definitely helped pushing the sponsors messages and nothing seemed to be remotely sexist. Indeed, there were a couple of lady racers who also chose to have their own grid girls.
The loss of 'grid girls' will not improve or detract from F1 but I can't help thinking the decision was made for the wrong reasons and without due consideration of the damage it will do to the long term and lucrative employment of many ladies that have been doing this job for several years.

Online Jericoke

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #35 on: February 02, 2018, 03:13:43 PM »
I know I am a dinosaur but I will miss 'grid-girls'. All through my motor racing 'career' there were always promotion girls involved. Even when I first started Karting my girlfriend would act as a 'brolly dolly' - this being what she called herself.
In later years, when I tried my hand at Superbike racing, there were always 'grid girls'. Some were girlfriends & wives, some were sisters, others were professionals. They all seemed to love what they did, they definitely helped pushing the sponsors messages and nothing seemed to be remotely sexist. Indeed, there were a couple of lady racers who also chose to have their own grid girls.
The loss of 'grid girls' will not improve or detract from F1 but I can't help thinking the decision was made for the wrong reasons and without due consideration of the damage it will do to the long term and lucrative employment of many ladies that have been doing this job for several years.

Family and friends will still show up on the grid/garages, and I'm guessing that 'grid girls' who are good at the job beyond wearing tight clothes will find themselves working with the hospitality suites. 

It's not as though the sport will eliminate 'glamour' entirely, just stop paying for it openly.  In retrospect, surely it's a better cost cutting measure than limiting the number of engine blocks a driver can use? (After all, the 'savings' made when a team cuts the number of engines is still in the cost of firing engineers/technicians who were doing very well and cut without consideration)



Offline Ian

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #36 on: February 02, 2018, 04:42:14 PM »
I think the money saved will go in somebodies pocket rather than the teams. Family and friends, yeah, I can go with that, I always went to my sons rugby training and matches. Same as Monty I will miss them.
An aircraft landing is just a controlled crash.

Offline cosworth151

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #37 on: February 02, 2018, 06:46:06 PM »
After the arrival of the minivan engines, the "dictator derby" venues and such, the Grid Girls were pretty much the final vestige of glamor left in F1.

I'm torn on the subject. Yes, the sport did have Grid Girls. Some viewed the idea as sexist. From what many of the women themselves have said, they saw it as a really, really good job. Don't forget that the past few years have brought also brought women like Monisha Kaltenborn, Claire Williams & Susie Wolff to F1. Too bad we couldn't have had a top flight driver like Katherine Legge or Sarah Fisher this.
“You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road and the creatures that live on it.”
― Bob Dylan

Offline Ian

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #38 on: February 02, 2018, 07:08:38 PM »
Wonder how Sabine Shmitz would perform in an F1 car ?
An aircraft landing is just a controlled crash.

Offline Andy B

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #39 on: February 02, 2018, 08:40:48 PM »
I was just reading that the BTCC are to continue using Grid Girls but they are employed by the teams and do a whole season including promotional work and appearing on stage with drivers and team principles for presentations and prize giving maybe "rri" should have gone down the same road rather than remove employment and take away these girls opportunity to work?
Once you have retired every day is a Saturday!

Offline Ian

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #40 on: February 03, 2018, 10:51:43 AM »
Good old Niki Lauda, he said, "How stupid can they be ? This is a decision against women, this is not doing any favours for F1 or women, I hope it can be reversed."
An aircraft landing is just a controlled crash.

Offline Ian

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #41 on: February 03, 2018, 11:03:45 AM »
I reckon the snowflakes and pc brigade would have apoplexy over this. Might not want your kids to watch it though.

http://www.csfights.com/20180114-2move-lfl-lingerie-fighting-championship/
An aircraft landing is just a controlled crash.

Offline Alianora La Canta

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #42 on: February 03, 2018, 11:39:47 AM »
From the way this was phrased, I think this looks like a commercial decision. The bosses did the calculation and decided that the grid girls were doing more harm than good to their bottom line. I seriously doubt Liberty would remove grid girls just to make a statement, am not sure whether they are yet convinced of the argument that "men do, women adorn" harms the overall employment prospects of women, and for that matter they haven't struck me as political crusaders of any description.

Remember, Liberty also owns the Atlanta Braves, and they have an entire scantily-clad cheerleading team. As far as I know, it will continue to work ther for the foreseeable future, possibly in part because it's possible to book them for other events and therefore make more profit out of them (the grid girls in F1 were paid by the race organisers, so no opportunity for Liberty to make additional income from their services). It would be difficult to argue that a company that has a cheerleading team that has not only skimpily-clad but is full of Native American appropriation would have much of a basis for banning grid girls on the basis of morality (as distinct from commerce). While I agree with the ban, I cannot take the excuse given at face value.

It would probably be fairer to say that the bosses of F1 have decided to make grid girls redundant (expect the replacement to be some sort of volunteers as per Formula E, or else make the teams themselves do the job as per WEC) rather than this being an action intended to be either pro- or anti-feminist. Also remember: it's easier to make people redundant if you never directly employed them in the first place (I think Formula E did directly employ their FanBoost models, unlike F1's race-promoter-based employment model).

It's a shame that the women are losing their jobs at the front of cars, but I think it is likely to (eventually) expand employers' minds enough to employ people more meritocratically if they don't get the "men do, women adorn" thing thrust into their faces every race. So I don't think we'll get less women overall. They will, however, be different women. I also seriously doubt the sport will stop paying for women to adorn - this decision only directly affects the grid girls, not team choices about who gets garage passes or how their teams are promoted. If someone wanted to be the next Eddie Jordan and stuff their PR team full of glamour models and the most attractive skilled press people they can find, it would be seen as hopelessly cheesy (and unless there was gender equality in how it was done, there'd start to be legality problems too - at least for the EU-based teams) but there's nothing in the rules to stop it. For that matter, it doesn't affect the Paddock Club staff - which Liberty, may I remind you, owns.

Finally... ...what's the betting that Liberty will try to take the amount the promoters saved on paying the grid girls as additional hosting fee, next time the circuits go to the negotiating table?

Edit: not wishing to double-post, but another data point: PDC banned walk-on girls last week (who did an equivalent job to grid girls). It turns out broadcaster pressure was the primary reason for their change. Make of that what you will...
« Last Edit: February 03, 2018, 11:08:48 PM by Alianora La Canta »
Percussus resurgio
@lacanta (Twitter)
http://alianoralacanta.tumblr.com (Blog/Tumblr)

Offline lkjohnson1950

Lonny

Offline cosworth151

Re: F1 'grid girls' under 'strong review'
« Reply #44 on: February 05, 2018, 07:50:38 PM »
Kind of like replacing the Super Bowl with Puppy Bowl.
“You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road and the creatures that live on it.”
― Bob Dylan

 


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