Formula 1: there can be no equality in sport while women’s bodies are used for promotions
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Anna Tippett, University of Hertfordshire
The Dutch politician Roy van Aalst has spoken out against the removal of grid girls from Formula 1 motor racing, arguing that it is a way of patronising women. He boasted that the right-wing nationalist political party to which he belongs, Party for Freedom (PVV), will ensure that the grid girls are reinstated at the Zandvoort grand prix in 2020.
“Only a huge idiot can see a beautiful woman as a problem,” he said. “The rest of the people love it. It is part of motorsport and the PVV wants us to ensure that next year this beautiful tradition will be restored to its former glory.”
The replacement of grid girls with grid kids in 2018 marked a shift in Formula 1 to a more family-friendly atmosphere. But van Aalst’s comments echo the backlash against this transition – which included some grid girls arguing that they were being denied the right to work by “feminists”. Grid girl Lauren-Jade Pope took to Twitter to object:
Remarkably, the “feminis...
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