Despite the enlightened times we live in, where discrimination against women is frowned upon and, in many countries, illegal, paddock girls, sometimes known as “race queens” or “umbrella girls”, have been a fixture in four- and two-wheeled motorsport for decades. However, the Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV), a political party in the province of Catalunya, Spain, is looking to have paddock girls restricted at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the Catalunya Grand Prix.
Seeking to have restrictions placed on clothing worn by the paddock girls, the ICV is also looking to balance the gender bias on the track, with the addition of grid boys. Speaking over Spanish radio station Cadena Ser Catalunya, Jordi Manils of the ICV said the role of grid girls at the circuit is not fitting in the 21st century.
The restrictions ICV is asking for is inclusive of all future events held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which might include Grand Prix. “What it does is objectify and vex women with a role in which they are a simple object and an ornament of the situation,” said Manils.
Forwarding such a proposal will require the agreement of a councillor from another political party in the township, a move which would not be difficult, according to a Motorsport.com report, and a vote being taken after the motion is tabled. The Jerez city council had previously proposed a ban on paddock girls for the Spanish Grand Prix, which was rebuffed by MotoGP organisers Dorna.
Some quarters have asked for the practice of having paddock girls as part of race teams and racing festivities be stopped, in a bid to attract female fans to the sport. Others have said that, in a male-dominated paddock, the image of the only females on the grid purely as “decoration” is sexist.
A few teams seem to have agreed with this view, ceasing the use of paddock girls as part of their racing promotional activities. Pull&Bear Aspar Ducati have stopped including paddock girls in the team, saying such a practice is no longer part of their, or their sponsor’s, image in 2017.
What do you think dear reader? Are paddock girls a part of the racing atmosphere on any given grid or paddock, or is such a practice an anachronism in this day and age? Leave a comment with your thoughts and opinions, below.
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To be honest, sometimes some of the fans are less clothed than the grid girls. So it doesnt matter, cos people are there (at the grid) to cheer their favourite racers and teams. They, can cuci mata elsewhere.
If like that, then the Mat Moto and the kutus won’t go for our Moto GP. Their sole purpose is to see awek, not the race.
Says you.
Lets be honest here. If grid boys were to exist, hot girls all over would lose their potential jobs.
Why? Because male objectification have achieved perfection several hundred years ago with all the statues and artworks depicting males. There is nothing left for us to achieve. Females on the other hand have only just received global exposure, they deserve more time to reach to our level. Equality I say!
totally agree with u
your argument is so skewed it actually makes sense.. I’ll take it
We already have grid boys. They ride the motorcycles.
I like how Paultan left the girls photo at the bottom of the page to remind us how awesome they are!
It does seem about time. In these days of internet porn, girls in skimpy outfits at races seems superfluous. Race fans don’t care if they are there or not. It would be good to see some girls on the bike’s but they’d have to be there on merit.
Sometimes, i think the umbrella girls disturbing racers concentration at starting.
No. Not me. Maybe it will only diaturb you
Paddock umbrella bois, Bring it ON!
Your eyes will see what you want to see. Nobody forcing you to see what you don’t want to see.
look like they want paddock boys….
Yes to girls but no to the skimpy dresses. Girls can still show off without resorting to demeaning ‘flesh offs’. Plus provide more opportunities for girls/women to be involved in racing and engineering. If we can electrify racing, we can make the effort to welcome the fairer gender into any world including racing in meaningful and respectful ways.
They did that for MY races, but bashers were quick to bash Gov/SIC.
Well we all know very well why the double standards in who to bash when it comes to things related to discrimination, morals and women’s rights. Hypocrites aplenty.
No one is stopping. Women from riding or being a motogp race engineer. If they qualify and perform they’ll do just fine but they have to step up to the plate la. Takkan ini pun kna ada quota??!?
Then stop beauty pageants contest. Or no swimwear in Miss World/Universe competition, how about that?
A step in the right direction bub…. takes time these things that are culture-permeated. Let’s get started…
no problem, bring it down..but most of u here will complain bla2..
Kudos to Mohan for picking up this story off the wires. I think he better keep updating it every month or so, and more importantly keep refreshing the pictures in the gallery. Kudos!
Q: Who goes to a GP Moto racing ?
A: Die hard fans.
Q: Who constitute “Die Hard Fans”?
A: Mostly males that like fast bikes/wheels.
Q: Does Males likes Hot Babes ?
A: Most if not all Males who goes to a MotoGP racing are HOT Blooded Males hence all Hot Blooded Males LIKES Babes Unless they are ahem …NOT true Hot blooded males.
There U have it PT. Anyone don’t agree please state your reason/reason’s. Don’t ask me about the females who tag-along please. Cheers … to HOT BABES as they are there to complete the show. Without Hot Babes, there will be NO Hot Blooded Males.
Agreed to remove the girls, the ugly ones that is!
I have yet to see ugly grid girls though
Let’s have Ah Kua paddock “girl”.
It wont offend woman or man in both cases….
I think they are bringing sexism issue to the wrong direction. Nature of human… Not all woman wants to be feminine, not all woman wants to be tough. There are many woman that wants to be treated like a woman not to be treated like a guy. They want to be pretty, want to be looked at, they want a job that makes them feels good and attractive, they like to get attention from males, they just loves it, it empowers them…..and what is wrong with that?
Yes some woman try to be male and don’t want to be treated like a weak woman. No problem.
But why punish these pretty woman then for just being a normal woman?
those spanish must be learning from some ppl in malaysia that cannot keep their dark knight from rising
Like or dislike my comments I don’t care, but personally I like to and even celebrate these beauties and their hard work on grid. It’s part of a culture I would say. Why in the first place do these politically correct buggers think of removing race queens? So what’s on their (dirty) minds?… Political correctness aside, thanks so much for the beautiful pictures on this page!!
It is ridiculous how they can send out women in skimpy outfits even in the coldest rainy weather onto the grid while everyone else is dressed up warmly. This is ridiculous. I saw them girls in Assen and in Brno freezing their asses off and still had to go out there and stand in the cold wind in a short skirt and a bratop. Just because “this is how we have been doing it all the time”. This is why I am happy when I see someone from the team holding the umbrella for the racer instead of a gridgirl. And I do agree with someone above saying some girls distract the team and rider, I have seen many times how the girl wasn’t able to hold the umbrella normally or she was talking to the rider and with her just standing there, the mechanics have to go around them all the time to check the bike. It is just not needed IMO. If they want the girls, let them me the hostesses of the teams and that’s all. But at least let them wear longer outfits in the cold weather for God’s sake.
Not all jobs are fun. Yes, it is uncomfortable at times for these paid models to stand out in the cold, just as it is often excruciating for me to sit in boring meetings all day. Its called work for a reason.
Men have been sexually attracted to girls for 2 million+ years and vice versa, but these days it seems like this is no longer OK. Of course the human race will become extinct if we enforce this silliness. It is interesting how beautiful people like to show off their beauty (and get paid for it), but non-beautiful people think that that is demeaning. We pay athletes and models to use their bodies to make money for other people so why is it wrong to do the same with these girls? I think if you took a pole you would find that most men and many women enjoy looking at these girls.
100% approve Paddock Boys! Or get rid of the Paddock Girls forever! It’s unfair to have one or the other. It makes woman feeling left out. 2018 things must change.
Remove the woman or bring in the man
The Umbrella Girls are making Girls in the audience or at home feel uncomfortable. The more comfortable they feel the more they will encourage there man to come and watch in person and online as they subscribe which brings in more money! Smart smart all around.
Imagine sitting on your bike in leathers in the baking direct sunlight, your eyes stinging as sweat drips into them. All of a sudden the red lights go out and you’re expected to perform brilliantly on the track by your team and fans alike. Could you do it? Brolly Dollies have a more important role than they’re given credit for. Do we need to dress these morons in leathers and sit them in the baking sun to make them see the impact of their decision?
If we can have grid girls dressed like that let’s have man without shirts on. We can see everything of the women out there anyway! It’s wrong how those women are dressed. I want to pay tickets for my family all to come and I can’t because they wouldn’t feel comfortable with it. I can’t even watch it online because my partner doesn’t feel right. Please!
I much prefer to watch a sport without the girls as my partner respects me more and F1 have already done that so I’m going to switch over to that for now, hope MotoGP follow! Love going to watch the races but my new partner won’t let me because of the girls
Just because someone dislikes the portrayal of women as sex objects or decorations, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are ugly, anti-sex or a man-hater! It just means they believe in equality. Let everyone (male, female, young, old) apply for jobs or volunteer roles to shade our race-gods from the sun, wear appropriate team kit and be selected purely on personality and passion for the sport!
These girls choose to be paddock girls. The only ones arguing it objectives women are the ones who hate themselves.
Ask the girls if they feel good about being in the paddock dressed up with the outfit options. I would think it’s voluntary. Get rid of the girls? Get rid of glamour magazines? They might have an objection that should be heard.
In my opinion the concept of paddock girls is already outdated, just like smoking in airplanes. MotoGP is losing potential fans by creating a ‘bro/Kavanaugh’ image through its use of these women. I have more respect for riders like Alvaro Bautista for being on teams that don’t bother to buy into this weird and sexist tradition.
Ask the girls they earn money , I think they should stay , think the worlds going mad, it dose no harm at all , and at the end of the day it’s about the racing and the result we remember . 99 Clive
I’m a woman and I love paddock girls – adds a nice contrast. That being said, if MotoGP is interested in attracting more women to the sport, they’ll need to get with the times and understand that many of them find the practice offensive.
So, in our “enlightened society “ it seems as though the only thing we can do from now on is to pretend that none of us are attracted to attractive people, and we have to stop using beautiful people to star in movies, television, magazines and advertisements. Then we can pretend that we are all neutral and enlightened.
I say why change it that is part of racing