Vuelta Podium Girls Change

blazing_saddles

Ben6899 wrote:

Pretty odd, giving out Anthony Hamilton's address.

It is only right, given this thread is about equality of the sexes, that we redress the balance.

Eglise Saint-Pierre, Calais: That's Lady Hamilton's address.

Ben6899

Ha!

larkim

Now, why didn't they simply announce this at the same time as announcing the departure of the grid girls. I can't imagine there'd be outrage / marches through Birmingham if they'd done that...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42950040

salsiccia1

larkim wrote:

Now, why didn't they simply announce this at the same time as announcing the departure of the grid girls. I can't imagine there'd be outrage / marches through Birmingham if they'd done that...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42950040

I hope there's an even gender split (only half joking)

RichN95.

In an effort to clamp down on sexual harassment in the workplace Amazon have also announced that they will be replacing female staff with children. Founder Jeff Bezos said "I should have though about this before. These kids will work for actual sweets. And if you fill them up with Red Bull their productivity is amazing"

blazing_saddles

So, out with the sexism, in with the child exploitation.
I see Rich has had the same thought.
Fortunately, the pit lane is a totally safe place to put kids. :roll:

Ben6899

Darts Girls are also being phased out. Charlotte Wood's take on it...

https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/957376242516406272

trivial_poursuivant

Blazing Saddles wrote:

So, out with the sexism, in with the child exploitation.
I see Rich has had the same thought.
Fortunately, the pit lane is a totally safe place to put kids. :roll:

With all the women out the workplace they can stay at home having more babies to eventually staff Amazon when they reach 7yrs old .

rick_chasey

Ben6899 wrote:

Darts Girls are also being phased out. Charlotte Wood's take on it...

https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/957376242516406272

Oh man, it's not about rights.

It's a job that's increasingly becoming outdated, according to changing cultural norms.

Less obviously, the dance music videos of the '00s were all chock-a-block with the same group of good looking female dancers.

They've all had to move on from staring in music videos as the fashion isn't to have those types of videos anymore.

larkim

Blazing Saddles wrote:

So, out with the sexism, in with the child exploitation.
I see Rich has had the same thought.
Fortunately, the pit lane is a totally safe place to put kids. :roll:

Not dissimilar to child mascots in football games etc - don't think that counts as child labour etc?

And I don't recall seeing any significant danger on the grid - certainly if there was any, I don't think the outfits the women at COTA were wearing would have done them any good, and they might not have been wearing the right footwear to make a rapid exit!

Vino'sGhost

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

Darts Girls are also being phased out. Charlotte Wood's take on it...

https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/957376242516406272

Oh man, it's not about rights.

It's a job that's increasingly becoming outdated, according to changing cultural norms.

Less obviously, the dance music videos of the '00s were all chock-a-block with the same group of good looking female dancers.

They've all had to move on from staring in music videos as the fashion isn't to have those types of videos anymore.

This is right, at last.

Of course those lovelys from the Robert Palmer videos and dance music videos of the '00s are all knocking on a bit so probably best they've been moved on anyway.

blazing_saddles

larkim wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

So, out with the sexism, in with the child exploitation.
I see Rich has had the same thought.
Fortunately, the pit lane is a totally safe place to put kids. :roll:

Not dissimilar to child mascots in football games etc - don't think that counts as child labour etc?

I guess they pay off is that the kids want to walk out in front of a big crowd with the heroes.
But, to me, it's equally exploitative as the ASO or RCS using podium girls.
A commercial marketing aid.

Vino'sGhost

well on the one hand whilst the knights in shining armour rescue the podium girls Pepsico makes special crisps for the poor dears

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42944833

Vino'sGhost

they would be like wotsits only with a string on the end to extract them without getting orange fingers I imagine

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

Oh man, it's not about rights.

It's a job that's increasingly becoming outdated, according to changing cultural norms.

Is it though? Or is it a response to a fairly noisy lobby? When the F1 thing was announced, they were discussing it on breakfast telly, and in their survey 75% of people who responded said they didn't think F1 should do away with grid girls.

It's been naff for ages but there is a sizeable chunk of the population who like it.

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Oh man, it's not about rights.

It's a job that's increasingly becoming outdated, according to changing cultural norms.

Is it though? Or is it a response to a fairly noisy lobby? When the F1 thing was announced, they were discussing it on breakfast telly, and in their survey 75% of people who responded said they didn't think F1 should do away with grid girls.

It's been naff for ages but there is a sizeable chunk of the population who like it.

Fairly sure breakfast telly viewers are self selecting, but anyway.

I reckon it's a function of the direction of travel and what sponsors want to be associated with, basically.

Had a sport not done it for 80 years and started doing it today, I imagine a decent number of people surveyed would say it was wrong too.

If your firm is trying to improve gender diversity (which they ought to, since more diverse firms tend to outperform), it's a hard sell to some of your employees if your name is all over a walk-on-woman who's there for looks rather than the content.

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

If your firm is trying to improve gender diversity (which they ought to, since more diverse firms tend to outperform), it's a hard sell to some of your employees if your name is all over a walk-on-woman who's there for looks rather than the content.

You get better performance through diversity of thought though. In an ideal world you'd want to recruit people from the left and right politically as they tend to be good at different things. Hard to do that in interviews though, so you just end up basing diversity on external signs. But that's a different discussion.

I do wonder if your case might be valid, but it's only really an issue to a smallish group. I think F1 is stupid and have no interest in it, but I've worked for companies who are involved in it. I guess if you had a real ethical concern then that's a different story.

No_Ta_Doctor

larkim wrote:

Accepting the real world that there is some beauty in the aesthetic of the way some people look, and whilst that may change over time with different body shapes being valued and appreciated, what I can't quite fathom out is why some of these sports (perhaps most obviously F1 and cycling) haven't just adopted a 50:50 male / female model split for all of these roles.

It removes the issue of objectifying just one sex, and recognises that in some circumstances a classically attractive human can be a pleasant adornment to a situation which is otherwise a little bland.

Whilst in principle I support the position that pure objectification of the human form is wrong, particularly when there are norms associated with it (e.g. specific body shapes etc), as this may have unintended consequences in terms of the behaviour of boys and girls as they grow up, I'm not entirely convinced that we will be able to remove this from society as it has evolutionary roots (e.g. the peacock displaying their feathers or the appealing protrusions of female apes) which will be very hard to eradicate. Finding other humans sexually attractive based on outward appearance is entirely natural, though what that attractiveness looks like undoubtedly changes through time.

So accept that we're only human, use male and female models in equal proportions for roles of equal value / prominence, exercise appropriate judgement in the garb that each are expected to wear and make sure that there are no trends towards body shapes which drive unhealthy behaviours in terms of the population at large.

Problem solved?

Ironically, this is pretty much what the Vuelta is doing, which kicked off this thread.

pblakeney

Rick Chasey wrote:

They've all had to move on from staring in music videos as the fashion isn't to have those types of videos anymore.

Fashion has moved on? Yeah, right.
This example is gender neutral offensive/pleasing if that helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... BAfejjUQoA

tangled_metal

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Oh man, it's not about rights.

It's a job that's increasingly becoming outdated, according to changing cultural norms.

Is it though? Or is it a response to a fairly noisy lobby? When the F1 thing was announced, they were discussing it on breakfast telly, and in their survey 75% of people who responded said they didn't think F1 should do away with grid girls.

It's been naff for ages but there is a sizeable chunk of the population who like it.

85% of LibDem voting guardian readers from South East who responded to the survey said it was outdated, sexist and they were worried about whether prosecco was going to run out again.

Select your target group and you'll get any statistics you want. Doesn't exactly support an argument that well but supports your opinions if that's any use to you.

inseine

100 years after women get the vote, F1, darts and the Giro finally catch up. Come back in another 100 to see if BR posters have joined the club. ( keep your hair on boys, it's a joke).

pblakeney

Women over the age of 30 got the vote.
Just saying...

inseine

PBlakeney wrote:

Women over the age of 30 got the vote.
Just saying...

Quite, and come in 50 odd years to celebrate the same thing in Switzerland

blazing_saddles

inseine wrote:

100 years after women get the vote, F1, darts and the Giro finally catch up. Come back in another 100 to see if BR posters have joined the club. ( keep your hair on boys, it's a joke).

If you think this place is bad, don't go reading any of the 1200 comments that have been made on that BBC Grid Kids story, especially those highest rated. :shock:

Anyhow, next up on the agenda:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/42952262

Tee for two?

bobmcstuff

Vino'sGhost wrote:

well on the one hand whilst the knights in shining armour rescue the podium girls Pepsico makes special crisps for the poor dears

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42944833

I listened to that Freakonomics the other day, surprised anyone in the news cares enough to report on it. I did think she might find herself sailing a bit close to the wind.

Thing is, some of what she says could be statistically true (she offers no proof), but it doesn't matter because you aren't allowed to say things like that now.

Vino'sGhost

PBlakeney wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

They've all had to move on from staring in music videos as the fashion isn't to have those types of videos anymore.

Fashion has moved on? Yeah, right.
This example is gender neutral offensive/pleasing if that helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... BAfejjUQoA

i can never unsee that

Vino'sGhost

bobmcstuff wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

well on the one hand whilst the knights in shining armour rescue the podium girls Pepsico makes special crisps for the poor dears

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42944833

I listened to that Freakonomics the other day, surprised anyone in the news cares enough to report on it. I did think she might find herself sailing a bit close to the wind.

Thing is, some of what she says could be statistically true (she offers no proof), but it doesn't matter because you aren't allowed to say things like that now.

Thats right thought police

tailwindhome

Vino'sGhost wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

well on the one hand whilst the knights in shining armour rescue the podium girls Pepsico makes special crisps for the poor dears

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42944833

I listened to that Freakonomics the other day, surprised anyone in the news cares enough to report on it. I did think she might find herself sailing a bit close to the wind.

Thing is, some of what she says could be statistically true (she offers no proof), but it doesn't matter because you aren't allowed to say things like that now.

Thats right thought police

ballysmate

Best not mention Scampi Fries.

Vino'sGhost

TailWindHome wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

well on the one hand whilst the knights in shining armour rescue the podium girls Pepsico makes special crisps for the poor dears

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42944833

I listened to that Freakonomics the other day, surprised anyone in the news cares enough to report on it. I did think she might find herself sailing a bit close to the wind.

Thing is, some of what she says could be statistically true (she offers no proof), but it doesn't matter because you aren't allowed to say things like that now.

Thats right thought police

ROFL