Teh Formula 1 Encyclopedia: 2018 Edition.

[Tom Servo]

If we're going on the "hahah feminists just ruined their own jobs", how much work is that? Maybe a maximum of 3 days a year for the country you're in? I'm not sure if they do stuff on the practice and qualifying days, but I'll assume that maybe they do.

It clearly doesn't pay enough money to bring in any models we'd actually recognize. I tried to find out what the pay is but couldn't find anything. The few testimonials I could find all mentioned that it was in addition to their day jobs, so it's not enough to earn a decent living. Do we know any professional models that got their start being grid girls? If so, at least we'd have a career-advancement angle. In the meantime, I think there's something to be said that by framing it as though men are the drivers and the mechanics and the women are eye candy that it may discourage any women who actually are interested in racing at a young age from pursuing that career.

But let's not go with the "banning" language. FOM decided against having grid girls at their events. There's nothing preventing these women from working a myriad of other racing events, or autoshows, or frankly just about any major convention that still hire them. One series decided that they thought it financially or otherwise benefitted them to make this call. Otherwise, the "banning" idea sounds just as stupid as the confederate flag people.

[CudaMan]

One of the grid girls who spoke about the issue today mentioned how it took a long time to "get to the top" so to speak, to be able to be a grid girl on the F1 calendar. It was a feather in her modeling career cap. She wasn't happy about not having the choice anymore to do work she enjoys.

It almost seems to me that this move comes at a wrong time somehow. We live in a time now where the majority of young girls being raised are taught (I sure hope) that they can be whatever they want and do whatever they want with hard work and determination and all that good stuff - and there's proof of that in the F1 paddock and other high profile racing series (and I'm not talking about grid girls). I've seen countless times women who perform these driving/engineering/crew jobs are treated with the respect they deserve for doing it well. Young girls growing up now can see women in all kinds of roles within motorsport. They have these role models to choose from.

It's like F1 is trying to solve some kind of sexism problem from a while back, but back then is when it was needed more - when it was more common for women to be viewed simply as sex objects and not able to do "men's jobs."

Taking grid girls away from F1 (and let's be honest, in F1 they're often dressed in a classy way) just makes racing more of a sausage fest.

[IMOA]

On the one hand I wonder if the fact that there are so few women in motorsport and almost none at the top level is due to the fact that its drilled into everyone that a woman’s place in motorsport is looking pretty and on the other hand I think, well, this.

I don't care strongly either way, it's just amusing that a great many women lost a gig in the name of feminism. A position that implies they were not capable of deciding on their own what they wanted to do with themselves to earn a living, or socially, or for leisure.

If I’m ever torn I’ll tend to come down on the side of no rules over more rules so I’d go with they shouldn’t ban them but I’d be supportive of any team who chose to put in some equality and used both sexes (I’d prefer that over not having any because, well, jobs are good)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Are pit babes banned too?

To get around to it, can grid girls just call themselves pit babes? Just hang around the pitstop area... you don't even need to hold up a sign! Makes the job easier!

Of course, to make it equal opportunity, we need Pit Hunks too!

Last thing we need would be Grid Bots holding up the sign... replacing humans!

[Kchrpm]

Young girls growing up now can see women in all kinds of roles within motorsport. They have these role models to choose from.

The problem is that, for the most part, you don't. Sure, there are women doing the behind-the-scenes jobs and a few big name drivers in sports car racing now, but if you're watching F1 on TV or at the track, you're going to see women acting as eye candy and almost nothing else.

It's not good for the women who are actually being hired as models, but 1) they can be hired by any of the other companies at the event to be anywhere other than the grid; hell, as a fan, you get a better exposure to normal promotional models than grid girls, and 2) there are (hopefully) far more women watching on TV or in the stands than standing on the grid.

There will still be promotional models at the track at every race, just not on the grid and as heavily promoted to the international audience. Young women watching who have an interest in motorsports won't get the idea that their best shot at getting involved is to be a model that stands there and isn't actually involved.

They're not even the first industry to do this, video game conventions have cracked down on promotional models that are just there for eye candy and now they present them as people who are extremely knowledgeable about the product and/or created their own cosplay costumes.

[Reynard]

It almost seems to me that this move comes at a wrong time somehow. We live in a time now where the majority of young girls being raised are taught (I sure hope) that they can be whatever they want and do whatever they want with hard work and determination and all that good stuff - and there's proof of that in the F1 paddock and other high profile racing series (and I'm not talking about grid girls). I've seen countless times women who perform these driving/engineering/crew jobs are treated with the respect they deserve for doing it well. Young girls growing up now can see women in all kinds of roles within motorsport. They have these role models to choose from.

I'm glad you mention this but it's also why I think it is very much the right time because there are more women involved with the actual race teams that aren't just holding umbrellas. There are countless venues that young girls can witness and aspire to be model that stands about with a forced smile (not easy by the way, I can hold one for maybe 10 seconds), why does motorsport still need to be one? It's true that the grid girls in F1 are attired far less revealing then in most other motorsports but then if it's truly the pinnacle, shouldn't they be the ones setting the example for all to hopefully follow in due time? Would a F1 grid girl holding a sign in front of a KFC suddenly make crappy fast food glamorous? Don't kid yourself in thinking that their entire purpose is anything more then to be pleasurable for men to ogle.

I've had 3 past girlfriends who actually would go to the races with me. All of them enjoyed it, more then they anticpated actually (especially if it was a motorcycle race). All the colors, sounds and daring do was enough to keep them engaged for the most part. However, all of them also came away with the impression that a womans role at the race track (aside from spectating) was nothing more then eye candy. That left them all suitably unimpressed.

Of course I would tell them that some of the walls & prejudice were coming down, albeit slowly & revel in my admiration of Lyn St.James, Michele Mouton etc. but... and this is why I call them a distraction and not an attraction. Most people never notice the partridge in the brush with all the peacocks strutting about.

[dodint]

I can't believe so many of you know so many weak women that something as benign as a model at a sporting event would forever alter their own ambition. It's sad if true and opportunistic if you're embellishing.

My wife watches F1 and knows she can't race in F1 because she's a Physical Therapy Aide.

She also watches sports car racing with no desire to turn a wheel in anger. Sometimes entertainment is just a spectacle.

Fucking White Knight's. Don't dislocate anything patting yourselves on the back.

[Kchrpm]

I can't believe so many of you know so many weak women that something as benign as a model at a sporting event would forever alter their own ambition.

They're called children. They're impressionable. If they see someone that looks like them doing something or being treated a certain way, they often think that's the way things are, and may not bother to even ask anyone to confirm.

As for the White Knight suggestion, go fuck yourself.

[dodint]

Reynard dates children?

Have a seat right over there...

[CudaMan]

In F1 right now there are women shown on TV in all kinds of roles. Some more than others, yes, and sometimes that's by choice of the women not wanting to be in front of the camera. In F1 a woman can be:

- A team principal
- A test driver
- A strategy engineer
- A reporter or broadcaster
- Head of trackside electronics
- A model on the grid. Oh, wait. Men in power have decided that women shouldn't do that anymore.

I've personally worked with women in motorsport in various roles and they were each awesome at what they did and were respected for it in all the interactions I saw.

It's not logical that seeing a woman doing one thing on TV means there is no freedom to explore other opportunities in that field or to even try.