Formula One grid girl Giorgia Davies has hit back at the so-called feminists who lobbied the motorsports industry to scrap her job, telling them they are “not defending women”.
Grid girls were scrapped by F1 shortly after the elimination of walk-on girls by the Professional Darts Corporation, because their jobs were held to be “at odds with modern day societal norms”.
Davies, a former Miss England finalist, hit back in a combative Facebook post, writing: “I am proud of my job. I am respected. I am paid well, and I have managed to gain a professional reputation that has enabled me to make a career out of something I love.”
She added: “Since falling pregnant with my first child the thought of not having such a flexible income to go back to after my maternity leave worries me. ‘Feminists’, you are not defending women.”
The model said the so-called feminists were “actually defending women who are threatened by other women who are in a career that you know absolutely nothing about other than what you see on the exterior, and a career that we have as a woman by rights chosen to uptake.”
She reminded readers it was a career that “[takes] years to get to the top of, believe it or not”, and that getting rid of it means “leaving women in a position of financial loss.”
Shed asked: “That is not the true definition of what feminism stands for surely?”
“If I am happy to put a classy dress on, do my hair and makeup, feel confident in myself and work with a team that treat me as a part of the family… why is that such a problem to you all?” she demanded.
“You may work in an office. You wake up and put a dress on for work because it makes you feel good about yourself also correct? And choose to go to work and enjoy your job?
“Why is it any different? I’m educated. I have a degree. I have represented 2 countries I have lived in successfully and promoted charities and fundraising in my own time all of which a person shouldn’t need to justify.
“But because I stand and smile for a camera I don’t deserve to have my job anymore and I shouldn’t be a role model to young women?
“We promote a healthy lifestyle [and] we look after our bodies Is that something to be ashamed of? Should we wear a scuba suit daily so we don’t offend you because of your insecurities?”
The aggressive moves against darts girls, grid girls, and the ring girls who help to promote boxing and mixed martial arts events — so far unsuccessful — have been tied to the #MeToo protests against sexual assault and harassment, and a scandal at the the exclusive Presidents Club, where rich businessmen and politicians harassed hostesses at a private charity event.
But Davies said the backlash against models like herself made no sense: “Let’s not forget the reason we are here right now… because of some actions at an event treating women with disrespect. So why are we the ones being persecuted and penalised?
“What will come next? Will you be telling rape victims it’s their fault for the actions they have endured for wearing a provocative dress also — ‘they brought it on themselves, if you didn’t wear that dress and that make up then they wouldn’t have touched you’… [W]e would never tell someone in such an awful circumstance it was their fault because of the way they looked at the time of the incident.
“So why should the incident at the presidents club be any different?”
She concluded: “Maybe educate men AND women the level of respect that HUMANS should receive and the fact that just because someone is deemed attractive and wearing a dress that doesn’t mean they deserve to be treated any differently to another.”
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