Please what is the "grid girl scenario"? Goodness I'm not a "Marxist" but would consider myself a "feminist". Unfortunately women have never been slow in turning on those of us they envy or they feel are standing in their way.
I had to research this to know what you were talking about.
I'm still not sure that it has to do with feminists. It was a business decision, and probably a smart one too. It sounds like Formula 1 wanted to expand their reach into new audiences. The presence of grid girls (scantily- clad promo girls, for those who, like me, didn't know) meant that Formula 1 was not appealing to families. Indeed, I wouldn't take my kids to an event or watch an event where half-naked women were there purely for ogling. Let's be clear- that's all these women were there for. They weren't in the realm of cheerleaders, even. They didn't perform or do anything but look sexy. They added nothing to the event aside from sex appeal. Which is totally fine if that's the atmosphere a brand wants to convey, but F1 didn't want that image. It's within their rights as a brand to manage their image. All brands do. It's not women turning against women. lol Nobody is saying these women can't or shouldn't be doing those "jobs." If they want a similar career, they can move into modeling or brand promotion elsewhere. I read the history of it too... this isn't something F1 started. Hawaiian Tropic sent a bunch of its girls out there in the 80s to promote their brand, and it stuck.
Imagine if a group of paid promo models showed up on answerMug and filled the pages with half-naked pictures of themselves in an effort to promote whatever brands they were associated with... only, the women didn't really engage in any kind of discussion... they just had their photos here and looked pretty, occasionally popping into a question to leave a smiling photo of themselves. What would that do to aM? I can tell you right now, we'd probably start attracting a ton of young men who are only here for the pretty ladies, and don't actually care about the discussions. Meanwhile, our core member base would be put off by the lack of intelligent discussions, and the site would fail to do what it set out to do. Another site might be totally cool with that, particularly if it wasn't geared toward opinions/ debates, and might love the extra press it gave them. That would be fine. However, I wouldn't want them here. That doesn't mean I have a problem with them. It just means this isn't a venue driven by sex. On the other hand, if those sexy women all had master's degrees or PhDs (or had equivalent intelligence), and were being brilliant in addition to sexy, I'd be much more inclined to let them stay because they added value... provided they put on some clothes. The grid girls add no value to F1 and hurt its image. It made sense to can them.
"The grid girls are best-known for holding driver name-boards on the grid and lining the corridor through which drivers walk on their way to the podium if they finish in the top three."
"Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One, said: "While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms."
"We don't believe the practice is appropriate or relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the world."
Anyway, this whole thing brought a song to mind... "Carla the stripper, straight from L.A. You seem cool for a naked chick in a booth. Let's be pals some day. In other words, put some clothes on and call me..."
Appears to be one of those things that if we don't look up we will never know. What "grid"? What "podium"? What is "Formula 1"? What is "Marxist" about them? How do they turn against women? Thank you JA for looking up - your post raises as many Qs as it answers. Doesn't interest me enough to look it up so I will generally agree with JA.
"I'm still not sure that it has to do with feminists. It was a business decision, and probably a smart one too. It sounds like Formula 1 wanted to expand their reach into new audiences. The presence of grid girls (scantily- clad promo girls, for those who, like me, didn't know) meant that Formula 1 was not appealing to families"
Once upon a time feminism encouraged women to work the jobs they wanted and wear what they wanted. It’s 2018 and those times have long disappeared. Instead of fighting for womanly freedoms, feminists are now actually slamming them. It’s not been great for their victims.women who are now out of a job thanks to feminist social pressures
You even copied the quote yourself one which is rather telling i might add
Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One, said: "While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms."
Notice he said it was at odds with modern day societal norms .......He is afraid of upsetting the pc brigade and opening the F1 to a possible lawsuit
" I wouldn't take my kids to an event or watch an event where half-naked women were there purely for ogling. Let's be clear- that's all these women were there for. They weren't in the realm of cheerleaders, even. They didn't perform or do anything but look sexy. They added nothing to the event aside from sex appeal. "
I will let Grid girl Olivia Rose Hayward answer that
" When there is a race on you are on grid with your boards to say where the drivers are going. But then there are also formations, where we are ready for photographs, and meet and greet jobs. We are taken round all the pit lanes because guests with VIP tickets get to do a pit walk beforehand and visit all the garages. We pose for photos with them and talk to them. We get sent to the members club to mingle with guests there. It’s a really long day.
‘I have a degree in fashion retail branding and visual merchandising from the London College of Fashion’
There are about 50 of us working for Formula One and lots of us have been to uni. We have degrees and we have our own businesses. A lot of the women have families.
F1 is just one weekend of the year. While some women do promotional modelling full-time, lots of us have other careers. We don’t just do for it the money, we do it because we love it and choose to do it.
I have a degree in fashion retail branding and visual merchandising from the London College of Fashion. I went into retail management and then I opened my own women’s wear store in Harrogate called Ivy Mount which I now run online. I also do social media for companies.
"Nobody is saying these women can't or shouldn't be doing those "jobs." If they want a similar career, they can move into modeling or brand promotion elsewhere"
Whether you admit it or not the pc brigade and feminist lobbying groups are advocating against things like this So they're making a choice about how women should be valued in sports by firing them and eliminating their job.To me, that shows they are not valued at all. They are simply disposable now because it's not fair pretty women can flaunt their bodies for a job, one that they chose!Other sports like Boxing Darts and MMA are now considering banning walkon girls...the precedent has now been set
One of these images is of a feminist. One is of women who should be banned because they objectify women and encourage young girls to become ‘decorative’
This post was edited by james at February 8, 2018 9:19 AM MST
Correction, if I may... *some* people who refer to themselves as feminists... blah, blah.. To say that all feminists this or that is factually incorrect and very misleading - one could almost say there's an agenda when people do that kind of blanket generalising.
One of the problems I have long felt that women do have is our inability to identify with and support each other. I get that we shouldn't, as women, support a woman just because she is a woman... but it is unfortunately true that there seems to be a measure of jealousy, envy and perhaps competitive that can mean some women seem to actively fail to support their own gender. Men, (a generalisation here) seem less prone to that phenomenon
Wish I could give your comment Adb five points as we used to on the old AB. I have been raising this discussion on the net for many years. Why do we think if any woman does well somehow she is taking something away from us? We should be congratulating and celebrating each other and learning from one another!
What do you think of this whole grid girl scenario?
It shows me that feminists are perfectly willing and capable of turning against women who don't support their cultural marxist agenda. Like many others here, I had to look up what a grid girl is - we don't have them here in Australia, never have. Then I had to look up the feminist arguments about them. As I expected, I found a range of different views, from 'the liberation of women means an expansion of their roles to include any work they are qualified for" to "women should not work in roles that encourage men to see them as sex objects."
Feminism aims to promote the welfare and equality of women, but there are hundreds of sub-groups of feminists who disagree about how equality, safety and better health should or can be achieved. At one end are the radical separatists, the Shulamith Firestone types, who have more in common with orthodox Judaism and Islam, because they think the best way to protect is to keep away from men altogether. At the other end are the Hilary Clinton types, the women seeking to break the glass ceiling in capitalism, the professions and politics - some are highly liberal and slightly left-wing, but the majority support the status quo and only seek for women to be able to move about freely and safely in public, and to have the same opportunities in all facets of education and work life. There is a tradition of Marxist feminism, and it still has some sway in academia - but in communist countries, women have not achieved equality, and so the Marxists are looking for new ways of achieving social parity. There is also a much more significant movement for feminism among working class and non-white women. Women of colour often experience a double disadvantage when it comes to dealing with the prejudices that block them from opportunities.
For people who dislike or disagree with feminism, or think they do, I would say, please study it before making a decision about it.
SpunkySenior 