Lewis Hamilton: Sexist or Just a Dick?

So Lewis Hamilton celebrated his latest victory by spraying down a nearby hostess and the internet lost it's collective shit.  Most people calling Hamilton a sexist douche (1).  So let's just do a simple break down of what happened.



Hamilton won the Shanghai Grand Prix and went a little crazy.  As some people may do when they've just won a lot of money and are simultaneously being crowned the best at what they do.  Unfortunately however, he chose to include a nearby hostess.  His celebration was the exact same manner in which all F1 drivers celebrate, plus a hostess.  (And it should be noted that Hamilton has included hostesses before (2) although that's not an excuse of course.)

Now I could make the argument that he just wanted to include the hostess in the celebration, but that seems like a fairly douchey argument so I'll refrain.  But what I would like to point out is that spraying champagne on other people is fairly standard in the celebration of any sport whether it's motor sports (3), world cup (4), basketball (5), etc.  And in all those pictures, everyone from the managers to the players to the coaches to their wives are being drenched.  But wait, they're all men doing it.  Well, there is precedence for women soaking each other as well, for instance the WNBA (6).  So arguing that the imagery in and of itself is phallic/misogynist/sexist is bullshit.  Also if women do it to men (when the WNBA players do it to their coach ), it's ok, but when men do it to women it's sexist?  Where's the logic in this?

Now wait, you say, what about the fact that he chose an unsuspecting hostess?  Well, yeah, it was a dick move spraying her in the ear, but somehow I don't think that was intentional.  Regardless, that's what happened and it was a dick move.  There's no going around that.  But being a dick is not the same as being sexist, at least in this case.  Also, the way Hamilton positioned the bottle when he sprayed the hostess is exactly the same position he has in any picture of him spraying down other drivers that pole.  He wasn't holding the bottle near his crotch as a representation of his penis, he held it overhead like he would a trophy.   The head of Object, an organisation against media sexism, Roz Hardie says "The photographs appear to show that the woman is not just being splashed, but that the champagne is being very specifically directed into her face, which does not look like a voluntary piece of horseplay on her part."  While that is true, I'd like to reiterate a previous point.  This is what winners do to celebrate in sports.  For instance, look at this image of Lebron James spraying Ray Allen after the Heat won one of their championships:


Now compare it with the picture of Hamilton and the hostess:

Doesn't the Lebron picture seem more...violent?

The ONLY real difference is that the hostess was an unsuspecting participant.  But as far as the point Hardie tries to make, pretty much all champagne celebrations include drenching people around the winner or winners with champagne.  And yes, a lot of times, to the face.  That doesn't make it sexist.  Especially when one realises that this happens so much in both men's AND women's sports.

Not satisfied with going after just Hamilton, Hardie says of racing in general "Motor racing appears to unnecessarily portray women as sexualised objects and that probably makes it even harder for the women to stand up for themselves. We would hope people in the industry would be respectful to these women." So granted women are sexualised, but not just in motorsports.  All sports.  And F1 has an overwhelming 75% male viewership (7).  And lest we forget, F1 is a business.  So accusing F1 of pandering to their audience?  Guilty!  But that's what business is.  I work in women's clothing.  All of our ads, and market research are geared towards...[gasp]...women!  Also, the women that stand up there are getting paid and have a higher per hour rate than most people.  When you become a hostess or a car model, you are signing up to be sexualised and ogled.  The pay off is that you also make more money per hour.  When a requirement of your job is to be physically attractive, you cannot be offended if you are then looked at sexually!

In summation, were Hamilton's actions over the line?  Arguably so.  Were they sexist?  No.

1. http://www.businessinsider.com.au/everyones-arguing-over-whether-lewis-hamilton-spraying-champagne-on-a-podium-model-was-sexist-2015-4 .
2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3037263/Stick-cork-Lewis-Formula-One-ace-Lewis-Hamilton-sprays-hostess-girl-face-champagne-winning-Chinese-Grand-Prix.html
3. https://www.google.com.tw/search?rlz=1C1DLLB_enUS605US605&es_sm=93&q=f1%20celebration%20champagne&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Z_suVY-DD8HV8gWXi4GICQ
4. https://www.google.com.tw/search?um=1&rlz=1C1DLLB_enUS605US605&es_sm=93&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=football+celebration+champagne&oq=football+celebration+champagne&gs_l=img.3...30834.32159.0.32384.9.9.0.0.0.1.117.531.7j1.8.0.msedr...0...1c.1.64.img..7.2.126.zf69SJliYyg
5. https://www.google.com.tw/search?um=1&rlz=1C1DLLB_enUS605US605&es_sm=93&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=nba+celebration+champagne&oq=nba+celebration+champagne&gs_l=img.3...48251.48660.0.48921.4.4.0.0.0.0.101.298.3j1.4.0.msedr...0...1c.1.64.img..3.1.60.ysSY6_pGtR8
6. https://www.google.com.tw/search?um=1&rlz=1C1DLLB_enUS605US605&es_sm=93&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=wnba+celebration+champagne&oq=wnba+celebration+champagne&gs_l=img.3...137331.138856.0.139209.6.5.1.0.0.0.72.300.5.5.0.msedr...0...1c.1.64.img..5.1.72.3nYn74MhbJ8
7. http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5214-women-watching-afl-and-nrl-grand-finals-june-2013-201309270516