The 'Great' WEC Grid Girl Debate

[Deleted]

Never understood what's supposedly so sexist about grid girls, they're just voluntary/hired "performers" getting paid there aren't they? What's wrong with that? No more sexist or so called "out of date" than cheerleader girls in football or baseball game, or light dressed gals in commercials, or wherever. It is just business after all.

With the unisex drivers and competition, motor racing is actually one of the LEAST sexist forms of sport out there. Including our cheerleader counterparts.

[Articus]

Interesting and I tend to agree. It's just business. It's not as if a female crew member of one of the actual teams is being asked to dress scantily and stand in front of cars. The women are hired, know exactly what they are doing, and it's a commercial sport.

[rich07]

I have to agree with Chiana and Articus on this. No ones forcing the grid girls to be there, it's a job that from what I've heard is well paid and everyone who does it know what they're there for, and taking all that on board I can't see why it's massively sexist. Nothing's changed in that regard so why change now? I just don't get the outrage.

That said I'm not massively phased if they are there or not, now that they are indeed gone how about we do what someone posted earlier and pick a fan for each car? That'd be pretty cool. Besides there are more important things for the organization to be taking a deep and meaningful look into like the future P2 regs.

[Jam3s]

People will work where there is a job available, it doesn't make it any less tacky though. It's objectification to the tee and it's about time it disappeared from motorsport imo.

[YorkshireLad]

I really don't see the problem, what's wrong with a pretty lass holding a sign showing a bit of skirt or cleavage? It's how it's always been isn't it? Racing has always had a lure of women. Even my wife would comment if Bob from Wigan was holding the no.8 audi sign on the grid.

[Akrapovic]

Well done to WEC for being progressive. Hopefully the teams will follow this lead and not use women as billboard adverts too. It's tacky, objectifying, sends a bad message to women, and has no place in what is a very progressive sport. Well done WEC!

[Spyderman]

Once again "politics" is rearing its ugly head in our sport. Unavoidable I suppose; but distasteful all the same.
I suppose "progressives" will not rest until we are all brow-beaten into sexless , silenced automatons . Group-think rules!....apparently.

[Ospi]

Never thought I'd see the day when the removal of woman dressed in bugger all allowing men in the stands can gork and wolf whistle as they objectify them would be considered distasteful, but there you go. Such a backwards step for motor racing!!1!1

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Ospi

Never thought I'd see the day when the removal of woman dressed in bugger all allowing men in the stands can gork and wolf whistle as they objectify them would be considered distasteful, but there you go. Such a backwards step for motor racing!!1!1

Would it not be more appropriate to remove the gun that was being held to their heads forcing them to parade around semi-nude?..Oh! Wait! There was none. Oops!

[Ephaeton]

I think it's a great step. I was wondering whether it was april fool's myself, and hope it wasn't.

I remember coming back from a race (ALMS @ VIR) and talking about the beautiful curved objects I'd seen.
But when I wanted to show pictures of said objects, a quick googling brought up women as the first hits.

I'm looking forward to seeing more curvy objects and less curvy subjects in the photo streams of professional media reporting about WEC events.

[Spyderman]

Hopefully the next steps would be to require a dress code for all women attending races (especially the more attractive ones), banning shorts, short skirts, plunging neck-lines, etc. That should keep the wolf whistling Neanderthals in their place.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

Hopefully the next steps would be to require a dress code for all women attending races (especially the more attractive ones), banning shorts, short skirts, plunging neck-lines, etc. That should keep the wolf whistling Neanderthals in their place.

Or we could just respect them as people rather than use them as decoration. If we introduced men in underwear wandering around then there would be an uproar.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Or we could just respect them as people rather than use them as decoration. If we introduced men in underwear wandering around then there would be an uproar.

Really!? No uproar from me. As long as there was no gun firmly against their head forcing them to parade around in their underwear, I would have no objections. You see, I'm from a generation that believed in individual rights and freedom.
Anyway, Where do you draw the line? Is a semi-clad grid girl not a person whereas a semi-clad spectator qualifies as a person?
My take is that what qualifies us as "people" are not our clothes or the lack thereof.
If you have an issue with the behavior of some idiots, then surely you should address the behavior ?

[YorkshireLad]

Doesn't anyone think the ladies like attention ? Isn't that part of our natural process. Why do women were skirts and dresses when they go out? Too impress, I feel some people are choosing what others don't want, while we're at it lets all wear burkas, and plain dresses, men and women that is! an army of plain people with no expression or taste in what they like. Also all lmp1 should be plain and look the same.. God what a boring life some people want to live.. We're only here once, live life to the full. If you've got it flaunt it! Jealousy is such a *****.

[Spyderman]

One can almost hear the uproar :

[Gingers4Justice]

Taking out the sexist and objectifying nature of it for a moment, I've always found the idea of grid girls strange. Do you really have that little faith in your product that you have to put a scantily clad lady in front of it? And is your target audience seedy men who can't show an interest in anything without a half naked woman in the vicinity? And as deggis said, they're always used in highlights reels, and I'm thrilled that the director will now have to spend more time on the racing rather than tilted shots of grid girls waving at the camera in the name of "glamour" (although in reality it probably means more shots of Dr Ulrich watching himself on a screen).

I remember walking around the paddock at Le Mans with my sister and mother a couple of years ago, and there were a couple of "Strakka girls" posing in front of the team trailer, surrounded by men taking pictures. I found it gross, and more than a little embarrassing...as an endurance racing enthusiast, I really don't want to be lumped in with that sort of crowd.

So there are my selfish reasons for hating the concept of grid girls, but I also consider it to be sexist. I get some girls want to do it, and that's fine - let's keep a sense of perspective here, it's not page three. It's something symbolic of an era which said it was the woman's job to look pretty, and the man's job to do the tasks which required talent or skill. I must have been to 200 or 300 professional football/soccer matches and I have never seen women paraded around for their looks and flesh in anything like the manner I've seen at pretty much every race meeting I've attended or seen live on TV.

Apologies for the rant, but this is something I feel passionate about. I adore this sport and I find it infuriating when I'm left embarrassed by elements other sports and forms of entertainment left behind when my parents were still at school. I want to be able to take my girlfriend to a WEC race without that feeling of embarrassment.

Well done WEC, and I hope the rest of motorsport follows suit. There, I've paid my lip service to your good news. What about these P2 regs then?

[Rodger Davies]

I can understand both sides of the moral argument, but no point pretending this was made for that reason and not because someone made a call on the positive publicity of one decision (reported on Reuters and thus prominent news services a week before the opening round) outweighing the benefits of keeping the status quo.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by YorkshireLad

Doesn't anyone think the ladies like attention ? Isn't that part of our natural process. Why do women were skirts and dresses when they go out? Too impress

Some might wear skirts and dresses to impress. Others wear it because they feel confident. Others might feel liberated.

The point is, most women don't put on clothes for us blokes to stare at. Women should dress for themselves. Look around the spectator banking at Silverstone - most of the men there sure as hell aren't dressing for the ladies.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with jealousy.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Do you really have that little faith in your product that you have to put a scantily clad lady in front of it? And is your target audience seedy men who can't show an interest in anything without a half naked woman in the vicinity?

It's just something symbolic of an era which said it was the woman's job to look pretty, and the man's job to do the things which required talent or skill.

I was going to reply with something a bit more curt, but you've said it for me. In all forms of sports it represents a age that's supposed to be past us, but "sex sells" isn't what I (or I suspect anyone else) tune into sportscars for. Even if I didn't think it was objectification I would still say it's pointless, so regardless of how and why the change came about, it's a good one.

And from a practical perspective, I'll be looking forward to not seeing anybody freezing half to death on the grid at Silverstone this year...

Edit:

Originally Posted by YorkshireLad

Doesn't anyone think the ladies like attention ? Isn't that part of our natural process.

At the risk of going down a very slippery slope, there are more than a few behaviours that are ingrained in us from millions of years of evolution. However I think we (as a species and a society) are intelligent enough to recognise that in this day and age we needn't act on these urges or cater to them.

[Rodger Davies]

If anyone doesn't dress for warmth at Silverstone, they deserve compensating heavily. Or being put in an asylum.

[YorkshireLad]

Eyy according to the forecast it's tshirt weather for Silverstone.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Taking out the sexist and objectifying nature of it for a moment, I've always found the idea of grid girls strange. Do you really have that little faith in your product that you have to put a scantily clad lady in front of it? And is your target audience seedy men who can't show an interest in anything without a half naked woman in the vicinity? And as deggis said, they're always used in highlights reels, and I'm thrilled that the director will now have to spend more time on the racing rather than tilted shots of grid girls waving at the camera in the name of "glamour" (although in reality it probably means more shots of Dr Ulrich watching himself on a screen).

I remember walking around the paddock at Le Mans with my sister and mother a couple of years ago, and there were a couple of "Strakka girls" posing in front of the team trailer, surrounded by men taking pictures. I found it gross, and more than a little embarrassing...as an endurance racing enthusiast, I really don't want to be lumped in with that sort of crowd.

So there are my selfish reasons for hating the concept of grid girls, but I also consider it to be sexist. I get some girls want to do it, and that's fine - let's keep a sense of perspective here, it's not page three. It's something symbolic of an era which said it was the woman's job to look pretty, and the man's job to do the tasks which required talent or skill. I must have been to 200 or 300 professional football/soccer matches and I have never seen women paraded around for their looks and flesh in anything like the manner I've seen at pretty much every race meeting I've attended or seen live on TV.

Apologies for the rant, but this is something I feel passionate about. I adore this sport and I find it infuriating when I'm left embarrassed by elements other sports and forms of entertainment left behind when my parents were still at school. I want to be able to take my girlfriend to a WEC race without that feeling of embarrassment.

Well done WEC, and I hope the rest of motorsport follows suit. There, I've paid my lip service to your good news. What about these P2 regs then?

Thank you for wording it better than I ever could.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

I remember walking around the paddock at Le Mans with my sister and mother a couple of years ago, and there were a couple of "Strakka girls" posing in front of the team trailer, surrounded by men taking pictures. I found it gross, and more than a little embarrassing...as an endurance racing enthusiast, I really don't want to be lumped in with that sort of crowd.

I agree. It's actually a bit embarrassing. Though on the other hand, no one forces grid girls to do posing and I'm pretty damn sure that race organizations get more applications than they can hire.

But, already three pages of discussion about grid girls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gSQg1i_q2g

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

One can almost hear the uproar :

No uproar here, I'll admit I had a bit of a chuckle. Good on her for doing that.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

But, already three pages of discussion about grid girls.

Unbelieveable.