Women in Motorsport Media - Fairly represented?

[Cookinflatsix]

They are using their gender to gain an advantage over their male counterparts in my opinion

Fair enough, but what guy after sponsorship would not push the fact that he is marketable, or English/German etc if say the team or sponsors had non sporting reasons to want this
And what about the guys with famous names, do most not push this (maybe not Senna for a short while)

I think these girls are trail blazers and can only be paving the way for the day we see a talented but ugly female driver

 

[Fenderman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_Patrick

Which came first, the racing or the modelling? It's not as if she's doing the old casting couch routines with movie directors. I know who's replies have been more surprising but maybe it's easy to dismiss someone of the same gender and not notice their achievements if ones' perception has been tainted by coverage of what, on balance, is a very small part of a diverse working life. I really don't think Danica's used her female assets to get where she is. Looking at her career as a whole I would say it's been through being very busy and working very hard.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Yes, she has achieved quite a lot for a woman, but would her achievement be so lauded were she a man - her fame relies on her gender, not necessarily on what she has accomplished.

Truer words have never been spoken. (or typed)

That's not to say that she doesn't deserve the coverage, the sponsors, and the cash that follows her around. If people are genuinely interested in her career or her "assets", who am I to tell them otherwise.

 

[Porceliamone]

She's an average driver, happens to be a female in a male dominated sport (which is unusual and therefore garners more coverage than would normally be expected) and she has absolute control on whether or not she takes her clothes off for photoshoots etc. It serves her (and her wallet/purse) well.

She'd still be known as 'the woman who competes in a male dominated sport' even if she was a complete swamp donkey and never did the kinds of promo and modelling work she seems to revel in.

 

[Enja]

Cookinflatsix, remember you can always do that in your own time if you wish.

I struggle somewhat with the idea that it's bad for her to use her gender to her advantage. It is cynical, but has no-one ever noticed that 90% of all racing drivers are well spoken, handsome young men? Unfortunately, one of the key ingredients of becoming a top driver is that you are presentable and a good ambassador for your sponsors. This invariably ends up in a lot of good-looking drivers taking the grid. If Danica wants to use her own looks to move up in motorsport then I don't feel what she is doing is radically different from the men - in fact, it's mostly down to the way she has taken her clothes off for camera that is most contentious. How would we feel if one of the current F1 drivers posed semi-nude? Would we care? Would it matter if they used their sexuality for advantage?

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Enja, on a day where we all wait with bated breath to find out if the pending Greek default will be deemed a technical default, I think we all need cheering up

 

[FB]

She is perhaps motor racing's equivalent of Anna Kournikova. Moderately talented, unlikely to reach the top but pretty enough to generate a lot of attention, sponsorship and column inches. Isn't there a young Scottish woman racing in Indy car at the moment who is pretty good?

 

[KekeTheKing]

She is perhaps motor racing's equivalent of Anna Kournikova. Moderately talented, unlikely to reach the top but pretty enough to generate a lot of attention, sponsorship and column inches. Isn't there a young Scottish woman racing in Indy car at the moment who is pretty good?

Good comparison with Kournikova.

And the IRL has several female drivers these days;
Simona de Silvestro (Swiss)
Ana Beatriz (Brazilian)
Pippa Mann (British)
and of course Danica P

 

[Hamberg]

I struggle somewhat with the idea that it's bad for her to use her gender to her advantage.

I don't think it's bad, I play the female card when I want to. I'm referring more back to the OP, and it applies to both gender. If they use their 'assets' to sell themselves, whether it's for sponsorship or increased attention/recognition which seems to increase her achievements against a male counterpart with similar results then it has to be expected that this will get drawn upon by the tabloids.

Danica is a poster girl, because she's willingly posed that way.

If most photo's were this then she can feel aggrieved if she is referred to as a poster girl:
http://tinyurl.com/6zhvffr

As a lot border on this then I don't think poster girl is innaccurate
http://tinyurl.com/42m6x2t

The same with Alice Powell, she highlights that she is female immediately, not her achievements, that she's achieving them as a female.

 

[RasputinLives]

Can I just bump this thread to sayvthat Britains own Alice Powell will be hoping to win the F3 Cup this weekend at Snetterton. She's 5 points adrift in the championship in second but form is on her side and 5 points is easy to pull back over 2 races and she has been clocking up plenty of race wins.

Hopefully a title win will get her back the budget she needs to get back into GP3 where she was starting to progress in 2012.

Still only 21 and seemingly improving every year Alice Powell is certainly a Lady to keep an eye on. Whether F1 is a step too far who knows but thats her dream.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I think an Alice Powel Thread would be more appropriate. Mods?

 

[Hamberg]

Meh the desire for her to be good is greater than her actually being good.

 

[RasputinLives]

Hamberg have you been following her results this season?

 

[Hamberg]

Following is a little strong but am i right in thinking her main/only job is a racing driver but most people in F3 cup have main professions and some are even 50+? That suggests to me that F3 Cup is a very expensive hobby for most people or for those that didn't make it but love racing.

If that is the case then I damn well expect a 'professional racing driver' to be wiping the floor with the lot of them, not 5 points adrift of first place.

Sorry but if she wasn't female we wouldn't know who she is and she probably would have conceded that this is a profession she can't succeed in and pursued another career.

 

[RasputinLives]

Ermmm I think you're being a bit harsh on the old F3 cup there if you look at the grid you'll see many a young racing driver trying to come through in the series especially since the collapse of British F3. Her main rival Alex Craven certainly is. Red Bull have been running Sainz Jr in it when they can and I think Kyvat(will have to check that).

As for Alice only 'being known because she's female' I know her because I saw her score points in GP3 that time and thought she had potential. She's not exactly overflowing with sponsors and we certainly don't see her on full page spreads in swimwear.

I mentioned her on her because she's an example of a female racing driver trying to make her way up the sport the right way by winning whatever catogry she can get enough sponsorship to get into rather than marrying the boss of an F1 team.

Does she have the talent to get to F1? Who knows. Maybe not but she's giving it a go and the current hurdle is the F3 cup.

So you can support Alice Powell if yoy like or you can support Alex Craven......or you can have a go at someone for trying to do the best they can like Hamberg

 

[Hamberg]

I mentioned her on her because she's an example of a female racing driver trying to make her way up the sport the right way by winning whatever catogry she can get enough sponsorship to get into rather than marrying the boss of an F1 team.
Hamberg

Yeah see it's this bit I have trouble with - she's using her gender to get sponsorship so she has an opportunity to make it big. I don't doubt she loves the sport and is very good but the female card is being played far too much

"F1 urgently needs a Female driver. David Cameron wants to see Alice in F1. Alice has the ability to be a strong F1 runner. If Alice can find solid management, she will undoubtedly bring enormous benefits to the UK and to any business associated with her."

I'm not entirely sure using David Cameron is a smart move either!

This thread is whether females are fairly represented - she's getting way more publicity than a male would if he had the same stats - difference being he can't use lines like 'first female to score points in GP3' as a hook unlike miss Powell to get noticed.

Stick 'Alice Powell news' into Google and BBC and Sky Sports News have articles on her. Alex Craven doesn't.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think David Cameron probably got more out of it than she did and its hardly covered her in media attention.

I'm not sure what you want every driver uses who they are and where they come from to get sponsorship whether it be 'working class hero' angle, "Franchetti's cousin" angle, "son of champ" angle or any other one you can think of. Its the way the sport works. As long as its backed up with results then thats fine by me.

I'm pretty sure if Alex Craven had a famous relative or a story that would get him a story on Sky Sports he wouldn't hesitate to use it.

Alice is attempting to win a series and get enough backing to have a go at winning the next series up.

How any young women is expected to make an impact on the sport if you insist on tying both hands behind their back in the name of gender equality I don't know.

 

[Mephistopheles]

If she wants to be taken seriously, why is she posing semi-nude?

Sure she can do promotional work, advertising, modelling, etc., all the drivers do.
But no-one's forcing her to remove her clothes.

I think the same thing about Christian Horner, I mean I wish he hadn't....

 

[Hamberg]

"F1 urgently needs a Female driver. David Cameron wants to see Alice in F1" That's the first thing you see on her website.
Go to Jack Harvey's and you get this:
"Jack Harvey is one of Britain's brightest motor racing prospects. Aged 20 he has already won ten driver Championships, including the 2012 British F3 Championship"

See the difference?

I don't like any kind of minority, nationality or X factor style story being used. I know it happens and I'm not condoning it for anyone. But she isn't brilliant and she is using her gender as a way to give her an advantage over her male counterparts in a similar position. If she was brilliant she would have sponsorship or be on a YDC. As it stands she is a name known to many people when in reality, all she's done is be a girl that likes to drive cars fast and is continuing to use that to make a career when it's highly likely she'll plough way more money into it than she'll ever get back.

Mephistopheles, given where we are on the thread you may wish to point out Bro's comment is about Danica Patrick and not Alice Powell (who I believe has not sprawled herself in bikini's over shiny cars)!

 

[RasputinLives]

Its still using who you are and where you come from.

You love Nico Rosberg right? Isn't using 'son of a famous driver' to get a bit of sponsership to try and show his talent to get to his goal the exact same thing as 'hey I'm a British Girl trying to get into a male sport!"?

What about Dino Zamperelli landing a drive in GP3 on the back of funding from a guy from Bristol giving him cash because he's from Bristol too. Isn't that the same thing?

She is not buying her way into the sport or exploiting her body to do it either. She's using who she is to get funding to try and acheive her target. Just like every guy in the sport.

As for her talent. Who knows. She can only win the series she's in can't she.

Due to the lack of females in the sport every female driver is going to have publicity about being female in a male dominated sport so you'll be waiting a long time for a girl to get behind if thats how you judge em.