We emerge from the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which each year sparks protests against the environmental pollution it creates and against the sexual exploitation which is seriously rife there. These criticisms are legitimate, but they are not immune to certain excesses.
First, from an environmental point of view, it seems ridiculous to me to want to chase away the Montreal F1 Grand Prix because of pollution when the car fleet and the sale of SUVs are constantly increasing in the city, a fact that has a lot more impact on the environment than a three-day car race. We have a long way to go to reduce our energy consumption and our ecological footprint, individually and collectively, before pointing the finger at F1 racing as a notable contributor to the environmental problem.
As for sexual exploitation during the event, it is absolutely imperative to fight against this scourge by doing everything in our power to discourage men from buying women and girls (and anyone caught in prostitution) during this weekend. -end of races. But it is not by eradicating the F1 Grand Prix that we will eradicate prostitution, a secular reality with deep roots and complex causes.
The problem is not F1.
The problem is that everywhere, all the time, men are creating a demand for prostitution. During F1, they are simply more numerous to do it and in a less complex way.
Targeting F1 as the enemy to be defeated diverts us from the real source of the problem, which is the purchase of sexual services by men, all year round.
Besides, not all F1 enthusiasts are fools who condone prostitution, or profit from it. It is possible to be a fan of Formula 1 AND to be against sexual exploitation which increases dramatically during the event.
Silence
On the other hand, what seems unacceptable to me is when you are an F1 fan, when you know the horror that is going on in parallel with the Grand Prix and which darkens the lives of thousands of Noémie, and when you don’t say nothing while strutting around the stands of the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit. That is unacceptable. Especially for public figures, who have media power that ordinary mortals do not have, and who therefore have the possibility of exerting pressure on the organization of the Grand Prix and on the clients of prostitution. When one has knowledge, this knowledge must be effective. Otherwise, we are part of the problem. And our silence becomes violence.
It should be noted here that the most inadmissible silence is that of the organization of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which knows the correlation between the event and the explosion of prostitution in all the cities where it is established, and which insolently turns away from it when it has the media and financial resources to set up awareness campaigns that would denounce sexual exploitation during the event.
Finally, many consider that the F1 Grand Prix is a disgusting masquerade swarming with ” showerbags » and the machos in lack of virility. This moral judgment is valid, but it is not an admissible argument to eradicate this monohull competition. I don’t like golf or curling. But there are people who like it. And it doesn’t concern me.
We are on the wrong track by venturing on argumentative paths strewn with sophisms and intellectual shortcuts. And meanwhile, clients of prostitution continue to parade at full speed through the bedrooms of countless Noémies.