papercranium

[papercranium]

been chewing on a tag I saw @gayferrari type... "wags are the new grid girls"

so what was the point of grid girls - to associate glamour and sex to an otherwise all male sport. too much penis, even the cars are shaped like phalluses they needed that yonic energy. it was a marketing tactic, a ploy to associate F1 with their playboy, drive cars get money bitches pussy aspiration. It was being marketed to men -- hence grid girls, not even women, dressed in the driver's insignia but more scantily clad, to be beside him for the unspoken implication that the driver can have her after winning the race.

it took until 2018 to phase out grid girls and was replaced by grid kids (and many of our presently woke feminist drivers then wanted grid girls to stay), with a growing cultural backlash and feminist criticism to the sexualisation of women as props in sports in an era where f1 was rapidly losing viewership and relevancy.

after the drive to survive netflix blow-up, FOM, Liberty Media started explicitly marketing to a lesser tapped market which is the female demographic. anything that wants to be relevant in the social media age needs stans, and nothing encourages that like parasocial relationships. now we have social media admins engaging specifically in fan spaces, using their language, referencing ships, doing fanservice and moving away from the solely male centric marketing.

now wags have always existed as long as drivers have been heterosexual but it wasn't until victoria beckham peak spice girls fame sitting courtside for david beckham made being a wife and girlfriend look glamorous, the outfits she wore and the face she served. the princess story for the new age, where the prince is a handsome famous athlete and you're the prize, the one he's blowing a kiss before shooting the hoop. it's why we still have nicole from pussy cat dolls and lewis hamilton winning world title edits in the year of 2025. it's that camera panning on her, with her gorgeous brown waves and teary eyes as she did the sign of the cross and ran to lewis, kissing him over his helmet -- the fireworks of yas marina in the background.

if grid girls tapped into a purely male heterosexual fantasy, wags tapped into a heterosexual female fantasy.

we can see this with the meteoric rise in social media following of the new age wags. f1 drivers have always dated models and beautiful women, but now those women become famous and build a following off the men they're seen with. what used to be limited to paparazzi and the daily mail, now has hundreds and thousands of independent gossip pages who follow their every move, meticulously detail every outfit and brand they've worn, track their social media activity, even their personal relationships. f1 wags are now bigger than ever, they're parasocially obsessed over and hated on more than ever, every move watched and criticised or smothered in affection just for existing. I'm not here to moralize on celebrity worship culture idgaf, but all this online attention is currency and it is profitable. hence wags build their own careers off the curated, aspirational image of being a wag. of travelling all over the world to beautiful places, wearing beautiful outfits, having a (up to debate) beautiful man by your side -- and brands have certainly taken notice. hence the sponsorships, beauty and fashion brands and self care sponsors all vying to work with them from your rhode lipgloss to your alo matching set

now Liberty Media has seen the shift -- no longer reliant on their official female mascots of grid girls, it's the meticulously dressed, savvy, skinny, gorgeous wives and girlfriends who are the aspirational women on the grid. it's important to note hundreds of women have always worked at f1 races, on the grid as marshals, in hospitality, as team personnel, as engineers and strategists. but YAWN 🥱 bo-ring! everyone knows the most important people on the grid are the drivers and therefore the most important women are the ones at his side. and so Liberty Media pans the cameras on these women and their doe eyed worry/elation as their guy crosses the finish line. it's more frequent, more lingering, and voyeuristic in a way that invites you to inhabit their place in your mind -- what would that be like? after all, you viewer at home are similarly biting your nails watching your guy cross the finish line. in that moment she represents you.

it's ofc misogynistic to imply the aspiration of wags is just for women — the idea of the Hero taking his helmet off and kissing the swooning damsel is literally in bond movies and appeals to the conqueror/winner male fantasy.

but from a purely marketing standpoint, FOM benefits from putting these women in official unofficial spaces as part of the drivers' (and thus F1's new more sanitized, "inclusive" brand image). When the wags are invited to F1 Academy events to promote them, when they're invited to the official F1 movie that's just for the drivers' viewing as the plus one, when they're shown on DTS beside the drivers in their private lives, or a whole segment that's about Ginger Spice riding horses with her sex pest team principal husband, when they're in hospitality and the camera cuts to them every so often signalling to the you, the audience, are supposed to care about this story they're selling you. it's no longer the scantily clad 'girls' by the drivers' side to be ogled, it's the official dowager titled Wives and Girlfriends selling you the aspirational, western, heterosexual, wealthy, conventionally attractive family unit.

not here to cast any moral judgments on wag culture -- I enjoy looking at beautiful women who live such fundamentally different lives too, but rather looking critically at why the larger media complex behind f1 wants to sell you their personal relationships in the era where your attention is currency~

[papercranium]

working on a remix video project for class targeting the sexist, “boys club” culture in and around f1—

does anyone know of stories/press clips/video/media content that i could reference??

(ex: teams claiming to promote women in the sport, then saying nasty/dumb things in interviews/conferences, drivers/team principals being openly sexist, etc…i’m sure there’s a ton of this out there but not sure where to start looking!)

any and all sources are appreciated!

[papercranium]

[papercranium]

obsessed with this letterboxd review for CHALLENGERS (2024) by rocky/WAYSTIAR

[papercranium]

succession as told through text posts part xii

px / p xi / p xiii / pxiv / pxv

[papercranium]

[papercranium]

my dealer: got some straight gas 🔥 this strain is called "2019 tumblr" 😝🥶 you'll be zonked out of your gourd 💯

me: Yeah whatever. I don't feel shit.

5 minutes later: dude I can’t explain the state that i’m in the state of my heart he was my best friend

my mutual fleabagtozier yearning: is my web weave thematically coherent

[papercranium]

to me formula one drivers are like. tamagotchi or pokemon for example. i collect the little creatures and take care of them for a bit

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scrolling my dash and laughing aloud to myself like i'm watching a really good stand up bit and not hunched over my desk alone in my dorm

[papercranium]

You want me to get on an international flight? The thing that killed logan roy???

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Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen | Zandvoort GP Media Day

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GRAN TURISMO WAS SO FUN AND AWESOME

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i love browsing the f1 tags on here bc it’s just gifset gifset web weaving gifset GAY PORN reader insert instagram au bad takes shitty incorrect quotes and then the most poetic gut wrenching driver x driver fic excerpt you’ve ever seen

[papercranium]

[papercranium]

True blue boygenius is THEE sugar and carmy song 5ever and ever the end

[papercranium]

kendall looks at roman across the table and, when the others aren’t looking, gives him a bit of older-brother sugar, makes a silly face from childhood.

[papercranium]

THAT’S SOMETHING

potrait of a lady on fire, céline siamma / ‘cupboard love’ in in the kitchen: essays on food and life, ella risbridger / the clean house and other plays, sarah ruhl