(Originally posted 19/6/2014 on a previous blog)

I’m an average teenage girl, I’m not particularly good looking but I wouldn’t say I’m particularly bad looking either; does that mean I stand a chance in the world of presenting formula 1?

These days it seems like the only way to get somewhere in television (or life for that matter) is by having huge boobs and a great complexion , neither of which (especially the latter) I can claim to have. But does that make me any less qualified than the women we see on TV every other week?

I feel like before I even finish college and start looking in the world of work I don’t stand a chance because I’m against the idea of wearing tight tops and slapping loads of makeup on to convey what’s happening in my favourite sport.

Who said that to work within sport journalism you have to be a man OR be prepared to plaster yourself in front of a camera for the men that enjoy the sport?

I can’t personally imagine anything better than sharing my love for a sport in front or thousands or millions of people but because I won’t willingly wear low cut tops or flirt with men or be an ex model I can’t work in TV, instead I have to sit in a box commentating on the race. Not that I have a problem with this, infact this is probably the solution to my woe. If the only solution to this sexist and backward tradition in sport is to break the social convention and work my way into the world of commentating then maybe you’re reading the blog of a future commentator.

But the issue still lies that instead of “that commentator” I’ll be known (or any other woman) will be known as “that female commentator”. I don’t see why this is right, why I or any other woman who delves into the male dominated arena of formula 1 should be classified by their sex and not by their talent as a journalist.

When I was making this blog I debated about making it anonymous so you wouldn’t know I was female but then I realised that doing that would be going against what I was setting out to do, and yes I realise that throughout this I have said why should we be labeled as female, but I believe it is important to make some ground rules on the fact that I want people to know my sex so they can see that women are just as capable of conveying news as men are.

I hope you do agree with me when I say this: In today’s world our sex whether male or female should not dictate what society says we are able to do and it’s time we stopped allowing society to have its way.