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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what you think about 'Grid Girls' no longer being used?

530 replies

Sallystyle · 31/01/2018 19:19

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42890261

I think it is a great thing.

Some people on my FB clearly don't.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Vicky1990 · 31/01/2018 21:08

Well done the feminist, they are doing a great job.

NotReadyToMove · 31/01/2018 21:08

I don’t quite see how it would be imposing a choice in women tbh.
The choice isn’t made by those women. It’s made by whoever is deciding that it’s ill look good to have women, lightly dressed/with revealing outfits, next to the drivers etc...
The people who are taking that decisions (advertising team??) are likely to be men.
The women have an opportunity (or not) to do said job.

TBH I would love that to be across the board in the motoring industry, not just F1. Having a few women who hardly dressed to steel a truck is always making me cringe tbh. (Very common at shows etc.. btw)

Thehairthebod · 31/01/2018 21:09

Why are people comparing this to Chippendales again?

This is sport - racing. The men use their superior skills and brain power to do it, and apparently the women are essential for decorating it. Nothing to do with a dodgy nightclub on a Saturday night in Nottingham.

Smallpotatolove · 31/01/2018 21:09

Completely agree with Cherrycoke. It's the fact that society tells woman from a young age that they are there to look pretty. So yes they may well be choosing to do these jobs but only because they have been brought up in a world where that is all they think they can do or what they think they should do to gain admiration from the male member of society.

I spent far too many years when I was younger worrying about looking attractive to men because that's what I thought I cared about thanks to the constant barrage of that message from tv, magazines, in RL etc that made me think that's what I should care about as a woman.

It's not about stopping woman making choices its about teaching them to think about why they want to make those choices. I can't imagine that many woman if they really thought about it would say that what they really want in life is to be oogled at by a bunch of random men.

Thehairthebod · 31/01/2018 21:10

It's the worst in cycling. Like, the men stand on the podium and take all the glory for their amazing achievements and the women stand behind like pretty robots. It's bizarre.

insomniac123 · 31/01/2018 21:11

Great idea, get these poor girls off there - cover them up! Completely inappropriate to dress like that - why we could even cover their heads too - I don't know what with ... oh wait maybe a burka or niqab. I mean we all know they are forced to do it and never do it off their own back.
As for our young daughters seeing it, well thank goodness people don't have complete autonomy in posting near naked pictures on Instagram /Facebook etc that they'll be subjected too. So will be able to stop them from developing any sense of body confidence at all.
Ps. Did modelling myself - never forced and have 3 daughters who if they choose to do it I would be proud for them to make their own decisions to do it - surely that's what feminism is being given the Right to make our Own choices? Clearly that's only if we agree with having lists of choices removed from us. Angry

Cherrycokewinning · 31/01/2018 21:12

Said far more eloquently than I smallpotatolove completely agree

I would be very happy if the dream boys/ Chippendales ended tomorrow. Many people would. I don’t think you’d find many people desperate for them to keep going

NotACleverName · 31/01/2018 21:12

Why shouldn't they have the right to choose to do it if they wanted to

They're free to go and be grid girls in the numerous other racing series that haven't yet dropped them.

Largebucket · 31/01/2018 21:13

I think it’s a terrible decision, just think how much better quiz shows were in the days when there was always a glamorous assistant.

NotACleverName · 31/01/2018 21:15

just think how much better quiz shows were in the days when there was always a glamorous assistant.

Hmm

What exactly do grid girls and glamorous assistants bring to F1 and game shows respectively?

Thehairthebod · 31/01/2018 21:16

I don't get the whole 'how dare you put these women out of a job' argument.

Most men of a similar age seem to get by fine financially without working as 'grid boys', 'promo boys' or 'hosts'. The option isn't really there for them to work these sorts of jobs (well not on anywhere near the same scale as it is for women) and they do OK, and they don't seem unhappy that this sort of work isn't available to them. Why can't the same be true of women?

moreofaslummythanyummy · 31/01/2018 21:19

Completely agree with Cherrycoke. It's the fact that society tells woman from a young age that they are there to look pretty. So yes they may well be choosing to do these jobs but only because they have been brought up in a world where that is all they think they can do or what they think they should do to gain admiration from the male member of society.

Well we must be raising our daughter very differently to most! We don't think that way and we certainly are not raising her to think that way. She knows she can do anything she wants and is prepared to work hard for.
Surely it is our job as parents , not F1 or anyone else's??

Thehairthebod · 31/01/2018 21:19

Great idea, get these poor girls off there - cover them up! Completely inappropriate to dress like that - why we could even cover their heads too - I don't know what with ... oh wait maybe a burka or niqab.

Ah yes, the old 'if you don't want society to see women as nothing more than objects to fuck then you must want them covered in a burka'.

How original Hmm

Unfinishedkitchen · 31/01/2018 21:21

To those who say the girls should be able to strut around half naked at the start of a game if they want to - nobody’s stopping them. They can go to the game half dressed and wander around with a fixed grin all they like, just not on their former employers dime.

Their former employer believes they’re bad for business and money is all it boils down to. Not one rad fem changed their minds, the financial forecast presented by the their accountants did. Many men as well as women find grid girls cringey and weird and they’re more likely to be the type to be able to afford more of the high end products being advertised than the average outraged Sun reader and before I’m called an elitist snob (my dad is a Sun reader), I’m just looking at it from a business point of view.

troodiedoo · 31/01/2018 21:22

Also, society evolves, different jobs become available, some become obsolete. It's progress. The world keeps turning.

Jamiek80 · 31/01/2018 21:22

The grid girls did actually carry out a role though they weren’t there solely to look good. So how will they be replaced solely by men? I’m sure then there will be an outcry over discrimination. If there is a mix of sexes and by some occurrence they top few grid places are taken by men then again it’s discrimination. I’ve not heard a single grid girl complain quite the opposite so who is this really aimed at?

troodiedoo · 31/01/2018 21:23

So glad I read this thread, I was quite depressed after reading some comments on Facebook.

kalapattar · 31/01/2018 21:38

In cycling, they have podium girls.

Australian cycling has decided to get rid of podium girls and have junior cyclists present the awards. Much better.

And then there's booth babes at shows. The only objective is to have good looking young women as decoration for your booth to attract men.

kalapattar · 31/01/2018 21:39

The grid girls did actually carry out a role though they weren’t there solely to look good. So how will they be replaced solely by men

I am sure they will find a way to help the drivers know which car to drive.

Julie8008 · 31/01/2018 21:39

Would be interesting if 'grid girls' where replaced with sexy young men.

And then watch the complaints roll in about women being discriminated against .....

Thehairthebod · 31/01/2018 21:41

Would be interesting if 'grid girls' where replaced with sexy young men.

But that wont happen will it? If they use men they will just use junior drivers, like in the Australian cycling - the don't now use sexy young blokes do they?

kalapattar · 31/01/2018 21:41

Would be interesting if 'grid girls' where replaced with sexy young men

I wonder how the male drivers would feel about that?

Julie8008 · 31/01/2018 21:43

I wonder how the male drivers would feel about that?

Why would drivers care?

kalapattar · 31/01/2018 21:45

It's annoyed Piers Morgan and Julia Hartley Brewer and the Daily Mail so that's good.

Will Page 3 go soon?

Cherrycokewinning · 31/01/2018 21:45

Well that’s not going to happen is it Julie? Anything else you can think of just to be contrary?