Formula One Ditching Grid Girls After All
Photo: ph-stop
It seems as if I owe Formula One an apology. Just yesterday I posted an article titled “Just Kidding, F1 Is Sticking with Grid Girls” as a follow-up to my December post announcing that F1 was reconsidering the models it uses during races. When I walked into the office and turned on my computer this morning, one of the first tweets that greeted me was F1’s official Twitter account stating that there would no longer be grid girls at F1 races and other events during Grand Prix weekends starting in 2018.*
F1 to stop using grid girls
"Custom does not resonate with our brand values" https://t.co/zKqSwM8EUU
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 31, 2018
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To be fair, up until last night, all indicators pointed to the racing organization caving to loud (and some grossly sexist) reactions to the idea that F1 would stop using scantily-clad models in sponsor attire as decorations at their events. Some drivers whined that they would be sad if they lost their eye-candy, while some owners and leaders commented that F1 had bigger things to worry about. There were some voices in the crowd that applauded the prospect of change, with Silverstone Circuit’s managing director saying grid girls are “tarty nonsense” and that he didn’t want his daughter aspiring to wear their stretchy uniforms.
A comment on my story that claimed this is all because Millennial men hate women and it’s all feminism’s fault. Because of course.
No matter what made F1 change their mind, I applaud them for making the decision. You might say this is feminism stealing wages from models or that the grid girls added a touch of class to the events, but at the end of the day it was women parading aroundas decoration while men got to actually get in the cars and race. That sends a message to children watching and encourages girls to think that perhaps they don’t belong behind the wheel of one of these powerful machines. Maybe now we’ll get some real female representation on the track with women behind the wheel.
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*Author note: Do not click on the featured tweet in this post if you like to believe in the goodness humanity. Some of the tweets sound as if they were typed by feral raccoons.
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