Earlier this week, the 23-year-old Arab-American racer Toni Breidinger announced that she will make her NASCAR truck series debuted with TRICON Garage at Kansas Speedway’s May 6 event. As the brand ambassador for Victoria’s Secret, Breidinger will wear a VS-branded pink and black suit for the event – and it’s time. We need more motorsport sponsors like this.
In case you lost it:
Allright, listen to me. Victoria’s Secret isn’t perfect. It has a long and complicated history of promoting unhealthy beauty standards for women, and I’ll be honest: it’s not even really the best place to buy lingerie. You will most likely find bras that are expensive, not extremely comfortable, and somewhat inadequate no matter how much you try. But at this point, I not interested. People recognize Victoria’s Secret. They realized that it was not a brand that directly catered to the traditional portrayal of A Big Manly Man.
However, the comments on TRICON’s Instagram post announcing Breidinger’s entry into the sport demonstrate exactly why this type of sponsorship is necessary if we are to make racing a success. the place is more female friendly.
“I mean. If Monster gives us Monster Girls…will you see where I’m going with this?” a user wrote.
“If the team doesn’t change the ‘y’ in toyota to shorts, I’ll give up marketing all racing teams,” another said.
Other comments imagine situations where female drivers are clearly present. Still others questioned Breidinger’s credentials, even though she was human winning woman in USAC history.
I spent many years paying for it role belong to women IN sports car racing, so it’s no surprise that male fans have once again found a way to turn an inspirational announcement into an opportunity to treat women. (Yes, for example, much man luxurious The internet begs for a chance to sexize the new all-female F1 Academy drivers, even though many of them are minors.) But the only way to get rid of these thoughts is to continue proving see women compete — to encourage them to line up more women-focused sponsors and accept more effort in top-level competition. Opponents will remain, but their voices will be drowned out by the results of the women who regularly race and finish well.
Sponsoring Victoria’s Secret has always raised some eyebrows in the male-dominated field of racing – and I think that’s a damn good thing. Women don’t have to lean back to match the masculine image motorsport demands; we need to start creating a bigger and bigger niche until the naysayers are forced to follow their chauvinism.
