There's a German saying, that gets posted under every female soccer game clip, it would translate to: "donkeys in a race for thoroughbreds". I'd love to see a talented female F1 driver that'll stand her ground in the sport, but if it's a literal diversity hire situation, where a sponsor dishes out a shitton of money, just so we can watch an F1 version of Danica Patrick's stint in Nascar, and said female F1 driver ends up completely obliterated and shamed at the end of the grid, it'd be rather hilarious.
Sometimes I can't help but get the feeling that men have some kind of general competitive advantage built in, and not just in physical sports. I have no proof of this, but if you look at other fields where physicality shouldn't be an advantage, men still manage to leave the women behind.
- Chess, classically seen as a game of the mind, just one woman rated 2700+ (the superGM rating).
- Starcraft II, the most achieved "woman" is a troon.
- Women's esports in general is filled with champions that can't even win an open minor league - not sure how much this has changed in the past few years.
Isn’t Sophia on record hating the W Series for being pandering?
So similar to Hou Yifan in Chess? She's billed as the next Judit Polgar, and while she's nowhere near the top 10, she's miles ahead of every other female Chess player. IIRC, she does not compete for the women's world championship.
None made that much of an impact, but it was nice to see them going toe-to-toe with the men, with no feminist bullshit behind them either.
If anything, it just serves as a holding pattern at best and as an outright ghetto for drivers at worst.
Having feminist bullshit is probably what holds women back in sports where they actually stand a chance instead of being mogged by male competitors with stronger and faster bodies. Their main theory seems to be that by creating a safe space and a parallel league of their own, they can eventually grow the talent pool and then stand up to the patriarchy.
What I think the problem with such a system is that it creates a situation where it pays to be low to mid tier. Why bother with the effort and injury risk shooting for the big leagues where there's no guarantee of even making it when there's a space just for you. It may not pay as much, but it pays, AND you get to call yourself world champion.
Bit of a shame in the context of racing. Shorter bodies in theory should fare better in G loading (does it?) and being smaller in general means your car is hauling less weight around.
No such luxury for men. You either make it or you don't. But today, you can call yourself a woman, and gain access to that area. And unlike eunuchs of the past, you're not even required to give up your manhood to advance.
