I never would have considered myself a feminist. Yet here I am fighting for the rights of women. There have been two pivotal moments that fortified this advocacy role I’ve undertaken.
The first was on March 18, 2022, when I experienced firsthand the effects of competing against and changing in a locker room with a male at our national championships.
The second defining moment was on April 6, 2023, when I was ambushed and physically attacked on a college campus in California for publicly stating that what happened at the national championships was unfair, unjust and detrimental to women’s rights to privacy and equal opportunity.
Riley Gaines speaks at Pennsylvania State University amid a crowd of supporters and protesters. (Riley Gaines)
This experience was the first time I had ever feared for my life.
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It also unveiled a scarier truth, scarier than the punches that were thrown and landed that day. Barricaded in a room for hours, listening to vicious vitriol being spewed outside the room that would become my prison through the night, it hit me – when common sense and truth are exposed, people resort to violence and threats to try to annihilate what is true.
To these people, violence and threats are all that’s left. And that day, despite being in physical danger, I decided I wasn’t going to stop speaking the truth.
VideoIt’s becoming clearer daily that we’ve been thrust into a fourth wave of feminism, the most ironic and contradictory wave yet: the wave where men make the best women. The objective of this wave is equal outcomes for all humans rather than individual freedoms, opportunities and the ending of sex-based discrimination.
This ideology is in direct opposition to traditional American values. Internet activism has advanced this movement like wildfire. Fourth-wave feminism no longer just attends to the struggles of women; it’s a demand for the elimination of “men” and “women” by rendering them the same and interchangeable.
While many modern Americans wouldn’t consider themselves feminists, most still support legal, social and economic equality between the sexes. The reason most don’t identify as feminists is a result of the conflation of the fundamental principles of feminism with identity politics. Real feminism, I contend, is not a concept that should contort itself to fit the politics of the day.
VideoMost of those who openly and proudly call themselves feminists believe men and women are equal andthe same. While I certainly believe men and women were created equal and in God’s image, I don’t believe they are the same. Men and women are inherently and beautifully different. Neither is inferior to the other, as we each have unique strengths and weaknesses.
I believe that women deserve to be recognized, embraced and celebrated for their unique contributions and achievements, not overshadowed or overlooked by men struggling with their own gender identity. I believe it’s time for a new wave of feminism where we fight to take back womanhood, the language we use, and our sex-based rights as endowed by our Creator and enforced by our Constitution.
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We are being force-fed the message that women’s rights, privacy, dignity, feelings and safety do not matter. What does seem to matter, however, are the feelings and experiences of men who decide that they are women and subsequently integrate themselves into female spaces.
Daily, I hear story after story of men forcing their presence into the spaces of vulnerable girls and women because their self-perceived identity does not match up with their sex and they feel they belong in the female sphere. In the process, women, real women, become collateral damage. The hard-won rights women have fought for are being erased.
I never could have imagined that being a 21-year-old NCAA swimmer from Tennessee would have ignited a life path to fight for the current and future generations of women. I suppose I have one person to thank for that – Lia Thomas, who was previously on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before competing in the women’s category at the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships after beginning to identify as a woman. Thomas so perfectly brought to light the reality of the injustice against women that was happening right before my eyes.
VideoMy forthcoming bookis the story of how I unexpectedly became a nationally known advocate for women and a champion of our uniqueness. I also hope it inspires and empowers you to speak the truth and stand up for common sense in this world that seems to have lost its mind.
Whether or not you have personally been affected by gender identity ideology, or know someone who has, it’s important to understand what is happening and what’s at stake. If we all wait until we’re directly impacted to take a stand, it will be too late. We’re already headed down a slippery slope.
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Riley Gaines, Outkick host of “Gaines for Girls,” and director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute.
