Formula One has announced plans to end the long-standing tradition of using so-called ‘grid girls’.

F1’s managing director of commercial operations, Sean Bratches, said in a statement,

“While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula 1 grand prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms.”

Essentially, Formula One has recognised that the use of women as props or accessories for men is sexist and outdated, and incompatible with gender equality.

Photo credit: Reuters, Ralph Orlowski

The move to discontinue the use of ‘grid girls’ has attracted praise from Women’s Sport Trust, which aims to raise the visibility and increase the impact of women’s sports. In a response on their website, the organisation supported the decision and encouraged cycling, boxing and UFC to follow suit. “These changes are taking place because global businesses are making a considered choice about how women should be valued and portrayed in their sports in 2018,” they concluded.

The practice of using ‘grid girls’ (who are not girls, but adult women) sends a message that women’s most valuable contribution to the sporting arena is their sexual appeal. Women remain on the side lines in a supportive role for the real athletes and drivers, who are men, while playing the part of eye candy. Formula One’s decision to end the sexist practice is a welcome step forward in challenging sexism and in encouraging female participation in sport.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, exposing the epidemic of men’s sexual exploitation of women, the casual sexism and objectification of women must be recognised as a significant contributing factor. We applaud Formula One’s leadership and hope these changes lead to a cultural shift.

Mike Tyson’s appalling history with women has been well documented, so it’s highly unlikely the people behind these organisations are not aware of the former heavyweight boxing champion’s bloody past.

He was convicted of raping teenager Desiree Washington in 1991, spending three years behind bars for this crime.

Tyson also subjected his former wife Robin Givens to extreme brutality during their marriage, even having the gall to boast about bashing her in his biography.

“It was when I fought Robin in Steve Lott’s apartment. She really offended me and I went BAM. She flew backwards, hitting every wall in the apartment. That was the best punch I’ve ever thrown in my entire life,” Tyson says in Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson.

Tyson has also told media outlets about beating up female sex workers he had hired.

Yet, despite all this, Ultra Tune and its CEO Sean Buckley decided the 52-year-old thug was the perfect person to front an advertisement that is being broadcast into millions of lounge rooms during one of Australia’s greatest sporting events.

Pic: Ultra Tune owner Sean Buckley (left) Australian models Jasmine Rainbow, Tyana Hansen and Parnia Porsche, Mike Tyson and Ultra Tune marketing manager Rod Cedaro at the TV commercial shoot in Las Vegas last year. (Pic: Arthur St. George)

To add insult to injury, Channel Seven profits from this normalisation of violence by running the advert during the Australian Open broadcast and Tennis Australia stands idly by, failing to call out its major broadcast partner for broadcasting a rapist into our homes.

A CAR servicing giant has defended a controversial new ad starring Mike Tyson even though the star said he thinks it is “a little bit sexist”.

A NEW ad being beamed into homes across the country during the Australian Open has been criticised for being “sexist” and “implying women are completely stupid”.

New research confirms Australian girls want a fair go.

Important new research commissioned by Plan International Australia has found that young Australian girls believe they are not treated equally to their male counterparts.

98% of girls said they receive unequal treatment compared to boys, particularly in sports, the media (television and magazines), at school, and at home.

Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, girls’ perceptions of inequality are felt most profoundly in the realms of sports and media. With adverts such as the Roxy Pro Biarritz 2013 official teaser, where the viewer’s focus is placed squarely on the sexualised bodies of female sports professionals rather than on their efforts and talents, the reasons for this finding quickly become clear.

In fact, it was found that after inequality, girls are most concerned with being scrutinised for the way they look instead of being appreciated for their abilities and talents. A staggering 93% of girls aged 15 to 17 years said it would be simpler to get ahead in life if they were not judged on their appearance.

When confronted with this finding, one frustrated mother commented: “I’m not surprised. Imagine what our daughters and we could achieve if there was no pressure to look a certain way. Instead of having to worry about shopping, shaving, manicuring, blow-drying, ‘make-uping’, dieting, self-monitoring, and all the rest of it, we could be spending our time doing things that actually matter.”

Vitryona Vaifale, a 15-year-old girl from St Clare's Catholic High School in Sydney's west, said she was tired of hearing she could not participate in sports because she is a girl.

Year 10 students at St Clare's Catholic High School are determined to stand up to gender inequality.

"I wanted to play football and some people in my community told me 'Oh, you can't play football because of you're a girl'. When I heard I couldn't play football, it's like 'But it's what I like to do. It's what I want to do but if you're putting me down like that, I can't do that.’"

Statistics and anecdotes like these can be discouraging. Discouraging too is that as girls get older, their confidence drops. At 10 years of age, only 56% of girls view themselves as being confident. Sadly, this number falls to just 44% by the time they reach 17.

Dr Steve Biddulph AM, Plan International Australia ambassador, family psychologist, and author of books such as Raising Girls and 10 Things Girls Should Know, asserts that the drop in confidence girls feel as they enter puberty is well-documented. 

“Girls of 10 or 11 are usually very feisty and at ease with themselves, but studies show a real drop off as they enter their teens. And their mental health has worsened dramatically as a result.  It started to decline 10 years ago and now it’s gone over a cliff. One in five girls now has a diagnosed mental health problem,” Dr Biddulph said

Jacqueline Rousselot, 17-year-old girl, said: "Rather than this idea that they should sit on the side and watch, they can participate in sport, they can feel comfortable they can sit how they want without worrying about how they look to other people."

"I think having that idea in your mind can increase confidence level, activity, physical activity and overall it creates that idea that you are equal to the boys you're being educated beside," said Rousselot.

About the Author: Violeta Buljubasic detests pornography and anything that resembles it. Cognisant of its devastating consequences, she believes that porn and the raunch culture from which it stems are symptoms of a ubiquitous ill that has removed sex and sexuality from their original design. Moved by the work of Collective Shout, Fight the New Drug, and NCOSE, Violeta hopes to be part of the solution to this insidious problem.

“Dean wants to be loved, honoured…and obeyed.”

Channel Nine’s reality TV show Married At First Sight has been slammed for promoting sexism in a new video of contestant Dean. In the video, Dean describes what he is looking for in a wife- which appears to be, a doormat.

Honey Birdette sexploitation highlights Ad Standards Board incompetence. 

Last month, American discussion site Reddit banned an online community that glorified and incited violence against women. The subreddit is believed to have had up to 40,000 members or “incels”, which stands for ‘involuntarily celibate’.

A recent article offering men advice about how to proposition a woman wearing headphones – encouraging them to block her path to prevent her from ignoring them – rightfully provoked a major backlash. But the backlash also brought a certain phenomenon to wider public attention – the fact that women sometimes wear headphones as a way to avoid unwanted approaches in public.

The public conversation on violence against women tends to focus on sexual assault and domestic abuse. We talk less about the routine intrusions women experience from men in their everyday lives, even though this is the most common form of sexual violence.

My recent research looked at how women navigate interruptions, intrusions, and harassment from unknown men in public. What was most surprising was how all 50 of the women I interviewed significantly underestimated the amount of work they were putting in to avoid intrusions by men in the street, and the impact this had on them.

They recognised that they were making certain decisions about routes home, or where to sit on public transport. They spoke about using sunglasses or headphones in order to create a shield – a way to give the impression that they didn’t hear that man making a sexual comment, or didn’t see that other man touching himself as he walked behind them.

Many categorised their clothes in relation to safety. Scarves were seen as safe – handy for covering your chest. The colour red was, for some, seen as unsafe – too bright, too obvious, too visible. Some even adopted particular facial expressions, trying to balance “looking tough” against the desire to not be told to “cheer up” by a man they’d never met before.

The women I spoke to knew they were doing some of these things but other behaviours were less conscious. They hadn’t really reflected on how much energy went into avoiding unwanted contact below the surface and how their freedom was affected.

Image: The Federalist

Advertisements that perpetuate sexist stereotypes, promote objectification and depict sexually explicit imagery will be banned in the UK, under rules being proposed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Soft drink brand Sparkling OH have attracted complaints for their ads featuring pieces of fruit arranged to resemble women’s breasts, complete with erect nipples. The image is accompanied by text referencing the deliberately suggestive nature of the image, “not as guilty as it looks”.