Today F1 announced a follow up to the banning of grid girls at F1 races and has now said that they will be replaced by kids who will be selected for each Grand Prix in 2018.
This, as F1 chiefs said, will be an amazing experience for the youngsters who may range from amateur karters on the road to F1 to fans who want to get in on the action. I would have loved to have done something like this when I was younger and for that, I applaud the FIA for such a great move.
The question still remains, however, was it the right decision to get rid of grid girls in the first place?
For a start, the reason why they have been outlawed is due to what the FIA called “modern societal norms” in the sense that women shouldn’t be only there to show off the men and should stand on their own. And totally believe that one day a female driver will come in and be successful.
But does the fact that all current drivers are men really mean that women are shunned through the grid girl system? no.
This is something that dates back decades and whilst I agree that back then attitudes towards women were very different and that that shouldn’t be the case in 2018. But the fact still remains that these women choose to do this job and most if not all do it because they enjoy it and may even be in the same boat as the kids that will soon stand on the grid.
The whole idea is to fit the societal idea that women should be allowed to do whatever they want in the same way men can and not simply be there as a subsidiary to the man. But a lot of these women do want to be grid girls, so I those cases they have done the complete opposite and prevented them from doing something they love… because they are women.
And if you don’t believe me just check some of the grid girls in question’s twitter posts.
5-time F1 grid girl Rebecca Cooper posted:
“So the inevitable has happened, F1 grid girls have been banned. Ridiculous that women who say they are “fighting for women’s rights” are saying what others should and shouldn’t do, stopping us from doing a job we love and are proud to do. PC gone mad”.
Whilst Lauren-Jade said:
“Because of these feminists, they’ve have cost us our jobs! I have been a grid girl for 8 years and I have Never felt uncomfortable! I love my job, if I didn’t I wouldn’t do it! Noone forces us to do this! This is our choice!” Which I think sums it up pretty nicely.
Now I will say that I am not a fan of grid girls for an entirely different reason, in that I don’t like the idea of people walking in public in some of the outfits they ware (such as skimpy two pieces) but that’s just my opinion.
In conclusion, I think it is the right idea to allow for kids to represent their sporting heroes in this way. But the idea of banning the grid girls because the whole idea is sexist just seems incredibly hypocrytical, but then all modern day Political Correctness is.
What do you think of the grid girl ban?
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