For Info - a Facebook post from one of the 'grid girls' :
Hannah James :
Ok, I have had enough of people talking for me so here is what I think regarding the banning of grid girls:
The issue at the moment is there are too many people being offended on behalf of people who are not offended at all!
Firstly, I absolutely LOVE my job. Secondly, I CHOOSE to do this job. Nobody forces me or any other grid girl to do it. Some of us do it full time, some like me do it alongside other work. The idea that grid girls are no more than a pretty face infuriates me; I am about to finish my degree and qualify as a Social Worker, there are grid girls that are lawyers, accountants, models, mums, it varies so much!
We work hard to build up a good reputation and a good relationship with our clients. I work in British Superbikes and Road Racing where it feels like we are one big family; why should I be taken away from that because somebody who has never worked a day in my shoes thinks they know what is best for me?
With regards to the outfits being too sexy and us women being objectified; let me clarify something. I NEVER work a job unless I am happy with the outfit. When I do grid work I am always 100% comfortable with what I wear and I do not feel any more objectified wearing what I do on the grid than I do if I put on a nice dress or some smart jeans to go out. What will be next, will swimwear models be banned because what they are wearing in catalogues is too revealing?
As my friend and fellow grid girl Giorgia Davies said; this has all happened because some girls were treated disrespectfully at an event .. so how about instead of banning the girls to eradicate the problem, we educate men and women that it is NOT ok to disrespect other people!!
My final gripe with all of this, is these so called feminists are giving real feminists a bad name! I am a feminist because I want women to be equal, I don’t want there to be discrimination in the work place if women choose to have babies, and I want women to feel empowered. So to have a ‘feminist’ sit on a talk show saying how she thinks grid girls should be banned, thus meaning a loss of job and income for women is completely contradictory.
Sidenote – men work as promotional models too! But with regards to being on the grid, as the sport is predominantly males, they (usually) prefer to have a female holding their umbrella, although I have seen female riders with male grid guys!
A suggestion was made that women should be given jobs in other areas such as commentating or spannering .. for those of you who don’t know, this already happens!
On a positive note I am so glad to see all of us women affected standing together fighting this.