Podium Girls

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roeboy
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Podium Girls

Post by roeboy »

The girls are a ridiculous throw back to the dark ages in a sport that could do with having a revamp and needs to get more women interested in cycling. Having two girls posing at the end of a stage for no valid reason is a turn off for most women I'd imagine and makes a mockery of the effort the riders put in as well.

Can we campaign to rid our sport of sexism, starting with this anachronism?

Please sign the petition below.

https://www.change.org/p/christian-prudhomme-i-d-like-to-remove-the-podium-girls-from-cycling-events
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Paulatic
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Paulatic »

Winning a race does need some sort of celebration surely. Out of interest what would replace the girls on the podium?
I do think this pic below was totally wrong and no wonder the organisers apologised.
http://twitter.com/marijnfietst/status/ ... 73/photo/1
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roeboy
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by roeboy »

Yeah I think we should use the kids from the town or village the finish occurs in. They'd get to meet their hero's be introduced to the sport, the sponsors still get a photo opportunity and the sleazy sexist element is removed. Win Win
Adam S
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Adam S »

I agree with the points made by Anna Glowinski a few years ago http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... odium-girl .
old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

roeboy wrote: in a sport that could do with having a revamp and needs to get more women interested in cycling


So why do you need to get more women interested in cycling? Surely they'll gravitate to wanting to do it without watching cycle sport etc. Or do you want them involved as you find them more appealing company than riding with a bunch of men? I watch a lot of motorcycling events and at start and end they will have podium girls either on the podium or standing on the grid in front of each motorcyle, F1 also in front of the cars and at the winners ceremony. It may seem sexist, old fashioned..... and to some extent it is, but those women aren't forced to do that job. I was on a train once sitting with a girl who did that role, she was intelligent( obviously good looking ) and certainly was not a girl who would be manipulated by men, she knew it was the other way around.

I often look at the girls on the grid and wonder "why do you stand as eye candy", but they clearly do and it's no different to why I can't understand many womens fixation with re-decorating houses every 2 yrs or putting cushions/ornaments everywhere..... they do. And as men we have many instinctive traits that women are perplexed by. The fixation with taking everything to bit's or having many bikes or the desire for a shed.

The world has "sexist" aspects to it that could change, but on the whole we are by our sex and hormones biased to behave in certain ways. There are always exceptions to the rule but on the whole men and women are different. I think that is most definitely reflected in the cause of most conflicts and wars we have, rarely if ever are women responsible. Why is our world structured as it is but by our human nature. By all means get rid of podium girls or attractive women in any advertising, also attractive men on adverts with shirts off....... I'm sure the replacement will be equally as pointless and time wasting.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Whilst I see the point you have to look at other sports as well. Podium girls aren't a cycling exclusive.

As for whether we should be supporting it at all - I'm just not going there.
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

I like podium girls. A lot.

If female riders wanted to have a few rippling hunks as eye candy next to the podium, then why would I care? That they usually don't is their business.
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Trail Beater »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Whilst I see the point you have to look at other sports as well. Podium girls aren't a cycling exclusive.

As for whether we should be supporting it at all - I'm just not going there.


I will.
There is no harm in it at all,and there is not a pimp standing at the side forcing me them to smile .
They have chosen to do that as a profession,are you going to deny them the right to make money ?
The PC Brigade and [offensive term for feminists] lap this up and take every opportunity to start another argument.
I'm surprised any of them watch television,as there would need to be a 3 hour special Points Of View every Sunday ,dedicated to the constant conveyor of complaints from angry Dudley Do Rights.
They would complain about a roll and butter with two notches in it.
Bloody ridiculous
700c
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by 700c »

Political Correctness gone mad. Get a grip on yourself.

Sad. Very very sad.
Bicycler
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Bicycler »

roeboy wrote:The girls are a ridiculous throw back to the dark ages in a sport that could do with having a revamp and needs to get more women interested in cycling. Having two girls posing at the end of a stage for no valid reason is a turn off for most women I'd imagine and makes a mockery of the effort the riders put in as well.

I don't get the last point. I don't see how having podium girls undermines the riders' efforts.

As for getting women interested in cycling, do you mean getting more women riding bikes or into cycle sport? Arguably the focus upon cycling as a form of sport is a hindrance to the development of a transport cycling culture. I don't think podium girls have any significant effect upon the number of women interested in cycle sport. To get lots of women interested it would need the women's sport to be more well publicised and successful. Removing podium girls might have merit, it might even be The Right Thing To Do but I don't think it would have any wide-reaching consequences in itself.
Last edited by Bicycler on 24 May 2016, 12:43pm, edited 1 time in total.
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kylecycler
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by kylecycler »

Paulatic wrote:Winning a race does need some sort of celebration surely. Out of interest what would replace the girls on the podium?
I do think this pic below was totally wrong and no wonder the organisers apologised.
http://twitter.com/marijnfietst/status/ ... 73/photo/1

That photo is absurd, right enough - the girls in the bikinis actually look embarrassed - but I think Marijn saw the funny side of this... :D

Steven Kruijswijk
Steven Kruijswijk

WEC - World Endurance Championship - stopped featuring grid girls last year (and don't have podium girls either AFAIK); F1 hasn't (yet) followed suit (the comments under the link are worth reading if you've got the time)...
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/04/03/w ... rid-girls/
...although WEC's reasons weren't very convincingly expressed - well intentioned, perhaps, but somewhat contradictory...
https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/583938880988127233

The only 'legitimate' WEC grid girls were the Hawaian Tropic (suntan lotion) girls, showing off their tan on the grid at Le Mans... :wink:

Hawaiian Tropic girls
Hawaiian Tropic girls

Mind you, that photo is from 1986 - times have changed - so she'll be about 50 now, and wrinkly (sorry - ageist... :roll: ). :)
Last edited by kylecycler on 24 May 2016, 12:45pm, edited 1 time in total.
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honesty
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by honesty »

PC brigade and feminazis. Blimey.

How dare women want to be treated equally. They should just stand there and look pretty. I mean cycling is all about skimpily clad women on the podium isn't it? Not like there's a bike race or anything...

Look if the women want to dress like that and be objectified, that's their choice at the end of the day. My objection is that it bares no relevance to the proceedings. They are there because of the male dominated status quo, because we expect eye candy. We expect it, and that's that. Its typical and systematic sexism built into the sport, and if you cant see a problem with it then it's not the feminazis and the PC brigade that have an issue.
old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

I personally like seeing attractive women on television. I've not yet encountered a female cyclist whose raised any issue with what may seem an out of date role either. As with Lance D I'm perfectly happy for women to have similar podium boy's it wouldn't emasculate me or make me feel a lesser man that they would be perfect specimens of manhood fully toned etc. Hey I'm ugly and skinny and accept my flaws, just means I have to put more effort into personality :) . If podium girls demean womens status in society and make them feel inferior in looks and figure, then how come I see so many ugly women happily married? Because life has more depth than podium girl imagery.
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Vorpal »

Lance Dopestrong wrote:I like podium girls. A lot.

If female riders wanted to have a few rippling hunks as eye candy next to the podium, then why would I care? That they usually don't is their business.

Actually, the cyclists have nothing to say in the matter. The sponsors; that is the people with the purse strings in racing have everything to do with it. It's not their business because it's not their choice. Men's cycling draws money, and the podium girls are part of the secne. Women's cycling doesn't draw money, so they don't get as much prize money, as large prizes, nor as much paid staff behind the scenes. Women typically have their prize presented by an organiser or other professional involved with the race.

roeboy wrote:Yeah I think we should use the kids from the town or village the finish occurs in. They'd get to meet their hero's be introduced to the sport, the sponsors still get a photo opportunity and the sleazy sexist element is removed. Win Win


Personally, I don't object in principal to podium girls. I don't think it's sleazy, though I don't like the objectification that they represent. I don't like the sexism (that is the difference between how men and women in cycling are treated).

I like the idea of using kids form the village or town where the finish is. Or maybe some of the volunteers who put in long, long days behind the scenes setting up the arena and stage, and things? It's really hard work, and many of them do it only for love of the sport.
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honesty
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by honesty »

700c wrote:Political Correctness gone mad. Get a grip on yourself.

Sad. Very very sad.


Its not PC gone mad to expect women to be treated equally. I want my daughter to grow up in a world where what sex she is is not the first (or second, or even last) consideration that someone make before offering her a job, or any of the myriad other things that are currently casually slated against women. having podium girls enforces the image of women not being able to do anything, their role is there to garnish what the manly men do. it is horribly outdated and negatively affects women and girls. So no it's not Political Correctness gone mad. It's called being a decent human being.
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