WEC announces end to grid girls

[Steve Bird]

BORING!

Eye candy has always been part of Motorsport ffs.

 

[Chris]

BORING!

Eye candy has always been part of Motorsport ffs.

That doesn't make it right though.

Don't get me wrong, I like pretty girls as much as the next guy but the practice of grid girls embodies two broken notions: that women exist purely for the pleasure of men, and that motor racing needs the mysterious fascination of attractive women as part of its appeal.

As beautiful as some of the grid girls may be, we don't watch Motorsport for them, we watch it for racing. So what does it matter if the grid girls are no longer there?

Kind of disturbed by some of the comments on this thread :/


In the end, this is a fantastic move by the WEC, and have yet again beaten Formula One to the punch on another issue.

 

[Birddogg66]

These Girls enjoy doing this and other girls enjoy seeing them enjoying doing this so why are you gonna take these girls moment away from them. Doing away with them is more sexist then having them.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

Now, don't get me wrong I totally agree with this, but I just laughed at how he said grid girls "are in the past". then promptly announces that they'd line the cars up like they did in the 50's/60's

but nice to see nonetheless.

 

[Tim Lundy]

I don't see this as progressive at all, I just see it as political correctness and paying lip service to equality. For starters, grid girls are in the beauty business, it's what they do for a living, so it's not like you're pulling women out of the stands against their will and forcing them to hold up signs for no pay. One would assume that some of the grid girls profit tremendously from this through exposure and spinning off their work as grid girls into other profitable work doing what they do, looking pretty and attracting attention. Thanks to the PC Police, dozens, probably hundreds of women eventually, will have less economic opportunity because of this decision. Don't worry though, we can all feel better about ourselves and that's all that matters.

Let's hope those of you that think this is a great decision, never buy another product that uses attractive women to sell it. That would be booze, food, sports and just about everything else.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I'm surprised it took this long time for the PC-Card/Fem-Card/Whatever-Political-Card to be pulled.

First of all. No-one, absolutely no-one have mentioned anything about that the women are forced to it. No one have complained about use of attractive people to sell (why is the focus only on women?).
And hundreds of women, will have less economic opportunity, due to the decision to not have Grid-Girls in 8 WEC races. If so, they didn't have much chance anyhow.

I just don't see the problem with them getting rid of it. I don't really see much problem with them being there either, but there should be grid guys for the girls at least. But there is no practical reason for having it.
Now, you can do it the Swedish Touring Car Championship way, and have Grid Kids. That also gives out the prizes.

You can do it Honda BTCC way. (shirtless and painted)

Or you can do it this way

¨

If the whole point is to look at pretty girls - then there are lot's of ways to do it.
If the point is to have pretty living creatures, preferably on two legs, being able to hold a sign (no kitten or puppy then). Then why not have a mixture (It's not like it is only heterosexual males watching, or driving).
If the point is to have someone holding signs, why not give kids a chance of a lifetime? Invite the local karting club. 2 kids for each car or something, make them arrive in their driving suit. Now THAT would be a tale to tell the mates through their young years.

I just fail to see why it is "necessary" to absolutely have grid girls, instead of other grid-things.

But, for WEC it isn't about grid girls specifically, but what they feel it broadcasts to the masses in terms of women in motorsport.

 

[Rob]

Screw 'em. This series is another I can cross off my list. The races are way too long anyway, although the cars are top notch. They need to mix the long and short like the old ALMS. Don Panos is and was a genius.

Someone needs to put a stop to the political correctness of the FIA.

 

[Rob]

This is the same FIA that effectively turns their noses up at women drivers in the top categories. The U.S. has always embraced them. The list is endless in all forms save NASCAR. I just don't understand. Someone please explain to me how FIA Europe can be so PC on the outside and so sexist on the inside. I thought it was bad here...but sheesh....

 

[Joao Alves]

This is the same FIA that effectively turns their noses up at women drivers in the top categories. The U.S. has always embraced them. The list is endless in all forms save NASCAR. I just don't understand. Someone please explain to me how FIA Europe can be so PC on the outside and so sexist on the inside. I thought it was bad here...but sheesh....

Okay?

 

[SVP Skins]

Friends with alot girls that do or have done grid girl work in BTCC, WTCC, Brit GT's, F1 and DTM. alot of them do grid girl work as they want to be apart of Motorsport in some way. getting rid of grid girls is taking away there chance of being part of Motorsport and takes away jobs. idiotic move by WEC if you ask me.

 

[Rob]

Friends with alot girls that do or have done grid girl work in BTCC, WTCC, Brit GT's, F1 and DTM. alot of them do grid girl work as they want to be apart of Motorsport in some way. getting rid of grid girls is taking away there chance of being part of Motorsport and takes away jobs. idiotic move by WEC if you ask me.

No big loss. WEC will die a slow death like F1 unless it changes format. I know it's all the rage right now, so yea, that's not going to be a popular statement.

Anyway, this makes me think of how well the WTCC promotes their races with hot chicks. Well done WTCC. Now where can I get a feed over here in the U.S.? We used to get these. I may have to go rogue. lol.

Next up on the FIA docket: making sure adult entertainment is produced in equal amounts of M/F, M/M, and F/F.

 

[Thomas Alderton]

It does seem a little pointless on both sides of the argument.
Motorsport has always had girls before the race because it was a gentleman's playboy sport
against it is that society has moved on but yet I still see no female racers but plenty of supporters.
Of course their are good female racers out there and of course there are some racing in motorsports but none have really got noticed and none are in a big league motorsport like F1 for example. (although that status is diminishing).

 

[Kevin Pheiffer]

Makes no difference to me really.
Nice to see a good looking woman next to a great car though! They just seem to "fit".

 

[Paul M Jones]

Doesn't bother me.. it's the racing that counts imo.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Friends with alot girls that do or have done grid girl work in BTCC, WTCC, Brit GT's, F1 and DTM. alot of them do grid girl work as they want to be apart of Motorsport in some way. getting rid of grid girls is taking away there chance of being part of Motorsport and takes away jobs. idiotic move by WEC if you ask me.

Wants to be a part of Motorsport is fine, I just fail to see what in the term "motorsport" that 'requires' a pretty girl in the front. Start driving, start study something that'll help you, contact people to get "inside" access. And while it might "take away" the jobs on the grid, you surely can't mean that the girls won't be able to get another modelling gig instead. After all, they are quite good looking.

Next up on the FIA docket: making sure adult entertainment is produced in equal amounts of M/F, M/M, and F/F.

Slightly OTT - and, it's ACO, not FIA.

Motorsport has always had girls before the race because it was a gentleman's playboy sport

That's the thing, afaik, the first time girls on the grid was used was in 1983. Ironically at Le Mans. It's not something that has been used since the start of motorsport.

 

[Thomas Alderton]

But girls have always been present at motorsport. It makes no odds. If the racing is fast and close who will notice. I guess it reduces the "pointless" jobs in the teams now as those girls get paid pretty damn fair to show their face infront of their car.

 

[SternLX]

Hmmm, way I'm reading it is they won't have the girls on the Grid any longer, but nothing saying they can't use them in front of the garage's before gridding up.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Hmmm, way I'm reading it is they won't have the girls on the Grid any longer, but nothing saying they can't use them in front of the garage's before gridding up.

I don't think it's anything that's stopping the teams to give a grid-pass to a girl to just stay around the car on the grid either.
It's just that there won't be any official WEC grid girls.

 

[ears]

Archaic, misogynistic and embarrassing to watch. Well done WEC. I only hope the rest of motorsport catches up, albeit 10 years too late.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Never been a fan of the "Grid girl" thing. It does kinda send the wrong message: All the men in the cars actually making the sport worth watching and all the girls just standing there. Smiling. Those fake smiles that say "I am really happy that the model agency I work for has gotten me a job where I have to stand next to a car for an hour pretending that I care". What message sends that to young girls? "Motorsport for women means aspiring to a position that could easily be filled by a cartboard-cutout picture of someone"?

We need more women *in* the cars, proving their worth. Less Jennifer Lopez (or whoever it is that is objectified these days), more Sabine Schmidt.