mcdo wrote:
pokerman wrote:
I like looking at pretty women so
Use the internet. It has everything you need
No I just don't like the political correctness of it all, I watch F1 for the drivers and the racing.
I've pinched this from someone else.
Quote:
People are upset not because they're ever gonna remember a forgettable fleeting moment a bunch of pretty faces and bodies walked past on TV, but because they see this as a sign (another sign) society is moving into puritanism, against expressions of sexuality, and imposing ever stricter norms on how people should act or what people should like. Which is all the most bizarre when it's coming from the left corner, the same corner that revolutionised society into accepting much less restrained expressions of sexuality (all kinds of sexuality, rightly so!) in previous decades. One thing is to promote equality and accept un-traditional models of sexuality, which is more than absolutely fine, another is to put pressure for people to stop expressing traditional heterosexual sexuality, which is what grid girls kind of were - and F1 absolutely did cave in to pressure because "let's ban grid girls" has been a buzz on these forums for the last few years, it's not a commercial decision out of nowhere from Liberty. And to cave in to societal pressure to stop expressing traditional heterosexual sexuality, from that angle it all seems kind of regressive to me, even if I can also see the opposite angle of progressiveness to it (to portray women as people, more than just a sexual object of desire).
Honestly, this isn't even about F1 at all (in fact I'm getting into subjects here that are very Paddock Club and nothing Racing Comments, if the mods want to move my post, it's fine). But F1 jumped both feet into a cultural conflict... I wonder if this partially was to get people talking about F1 in the off-season, it surely seems to have worked?
Also, a final point. Lots of people are saying this is to expand F1's target market from heterosexual men to well, everyone. And that's fine, everyone is of course welcome to enjoy F1. But I think people are a little deluded at just how much potential is there for F1 to expand in... these "other markets" (women and/or homosexual men). There is a reason why F1 is more popular with guys than girls, and I do not believe it is merely because of cultural norms (even if they may play a limited role). When I was a little kid and fell in love with F1 at the age of like, literally 3, nobody pushed me away from Barbie dolls and forced cars down my throat. I liked the speed, the adrenaline, the brute force aspect of it all, the late 80s turbo screamers, aggressive as hell, dangerous as hell. I replayed a VHS of crashes (in F1 and others) over and over again (which tbh looking back seems kind of morbid). I was obsessed with the competitive aspect and who was the best, who was the fastest. Now I cannot say my experience speaks for everyone, and I understand this is all a bit of a troglodyte caveman anecdote (I like to think as I aged I became more sensitive, and found other angles to also appreciate in the sport, but I'm biased).
But I simply do not think girls tend to get drawn to these same things as boys do. Speed, adrenaline, danger, competition, force. Some girls might, and that is absolutely fine, and this does not have to be linked to sexuality, it does not make you less of a girly girl. And other girls might find other things to like in the sport that attracts them to it. That is all great and we should encourage it, and indeed get rid of cultural blockages that forbid this all from happening. But I don't think we're ever gonna be in a world where boys don't get drawn to speed and adrenaline more than girls do. Somewhere a few pages back someone mentioned that the viewership is 92% men 8% women. Granted, there is indeed some potential to increase the female numbers here. Yet some people around think that having more men watchers than women watchers is wrong and F1 should strive to be nothing less than 50/50, which would represent perfect equality. I say that is not what equality is to me, because no matter how we strive to equate them, men and women will always tend to have certain different characteristics, so good ****ing luck in trying to change the world.
edit: and to clarify, I'm not even sure I'm for or against grid girls. I see both sides and like my fence on this. But I think people have done a terrible job of explaining the argument for them so had to jump in.