Realities of being a woman in the motorcycle industry with Sophie McGinn
Women in motorsport can be hugely overlooked and when they are honoured in the community, the focus is largely on the riders or the team bosses. As inspiring and influential as these ladies are, we cannot forget about those behind the scenes, whether that be supporting the riders we love or creating amazing content throughout the season.
The owner of SHRED magazine, Sophie McGinn has proven that women in the industry can do it just as well as guys can. With her confident personality and incredible content, Mcginn has made waves within the crazy world of motorcycle racing.
Growing up, Sophie was always involved in motorcycle racing with her dad being a mechanic for a few BSB teams and began riding herself at a “tiny tiny age”. As she got older, Sophie started to create social media posts for her friends that raced and it eventually just snowballed into getting some amazing opportunities, such as presenting at the Birmingham and London ArenaCross, attending the Macau Grand Prix and having her own mini-series at the Isle of Man TT.
However, it wasn't always so exciting for Sophie. As we know, social media can be a breeding ground for nasty comments and all-around twats. McGinn experienced this first hand when she appeared on a Channel 4 programme, which unfortunately got canned after a couple of episodes. The internet trolls attacked Sophie for her hair and her outfits and anything else they wanted to have an issue with. Sophie made a huge commitment fotor that job by "living in a hotel for months" just to film the show but the backlash caused Sophie to spiral into a bad depression in which she withdrew from all forms of social media. Over time Sophie realised she shouldn't let those opinions affect her and her work, “why would I let the opinion of individuals who are not on my wavelength, or not on my energy, affect me….if I get a shitty comment now I just think that they are entitled to their own opinion, I'm gonna do my thing and they can do theirs.”.
Sophie and I have both had similar experiences when it comes to the sexualisation of women in the industry. The number of individuals Sophie has had asking her for a link to an OnlyFans is a daily occurrence ( she does not have one) as well as people asking “are you here with your fella”, ignoring the fact that women can enjoy the bike world for the same reasons men can. Sophie has always shown her confidence and prides herself self on being “McGinn” and will always be herself no matter who she dates. “if I want to get more piercings I will If I want to get more tattoos I will, fuck it.”
One thing I always ask my guests on On Track Mind is “what advice would you give to...” so I asked Sophie, what advice would you give a young girl trying to get into the content side of the industry, here's what she had to say; “Just be yourself, be authentic and be true to who you are. Don't feel like you have to get a bit of tit out and arse out to get attention. Do not undersell yourself.”
Sophie has not only inspired me but many many young girls and we are forever grateful for women like McGinn showing us to just be ourselves and enjoy life.
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