Simone Biles attacks Riley Gaines

God forbid a woman should earn some money to pay her bills

I think we're in a game of Calvinball where the goalposts continually shift so that, no matter what, Riley Gaines is wrong.

I can only assume that, because she votes the same way as 50% of American voters, she can't be allowed to be right, even by some people who agree with her on her campaigning issue.

The Labour Party stans on here seem quiet lately, but they were the same when Rosie Duffield went independent - "I agree with her GC stance, now let me tell you at enormous length all the things I dislike about her". Tribalism is a hell of a drug.

Indeed.

I think it is expected that Riley Gaines should either cancel or reject any interview requests for a time period predetermined by those who seek to continue to negatively judge her.

What would be reasonable do you think? You suggest a few days. I think you are being far too generous. I reckon the answer would be closer to 'forever'.

I think there really is an expectation from some people that women who are campaigning, taking time off for interviews, testimonies to the many state and federal based hearings, should be either paying for it all themselves or relying on donations? That they should pay for all the travel and the accommodation and loss of time at employment themselves or they should just stop campaigning.

Your definition of prolonged is unlikely to be shared by the majority of the population if you think it describes someone doing media about an event the day after it happened.

It's going to be at least another few days before you can give this argument an airing without looking daft.

I suppose you missed the amount of engagement farming Gaines is making off this, and that is the probable reason she is prolonging the incident out? Gaines isn’t even an athlete any more - she’s a full- time Republican activist. Nothing wrong with that, but she’s getting her money’s worth from this.

And still missing the entire point of those sentences too.

That the point is that even with all the well deserved acclaim that Simone Biles' has achieved, she is still trying, unsuccessfully, to appease the extreme transgender activists.

There seems to be a disconnect between what has been said and what some people, including those on twitter, want to frame what she has said. And when you look at the context of that interview snippet and the tweet accepting the apology, the disconnect becomes clearer.

It seems determined now.

And to never discuss the original incident, or the apology in the public sphere again, even if asked questions about it. Meaning also, that they should not address any malign accusations made against them about the incident.

This is getting close to those testimonies we have seen under oath in the court cases. That women can have any opinion and thought they want, it is a 'free' world. But there is no way a woman can say that they need single sex provisions to remain single sex without being labelled as a bigot.

There is no way a woman can articulate their concerns, they just have to keep them in their mind.

Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

No. All she said was that Simone is a famous public figure. Absolutely correct in that. She didn't make any comparison with herself. You did that.

Parsing the original message:

Gaines: I accept her apology and see this as a really big win. (The apology to ME)

You have this famous public figure (Bigger than myself, not explicitly referring to medals or sporting prowess)

now issuing a groveling public apology and backtracks after tweeting pro-trans propaganda, if you will.” (Grovelling to ME)

I didn’t bring their status into it. Gaines did.

So 'be kind' now extends not only to an expectation that women should take personal abuse with a simpering smile but should keep up that simpering smile in the face of a non apology from the person who abused them.

You said this ...

And her statement above reflects that - ‘I got an athlete much better than me to apologise - to me’

That was entirely your reading. You brought their relative status as athletes into it. Why?

And then they misrepresented her in a future episode and didn’t provide a proper correction.

The most telling part of Biles’ initial tweet for me was her suggestion that Riley Gaines should be focusing on finding solutions for Trans people in sports. Why on earth a female athlete should be devoting any time whatsoever to finding solutions purely relevant to biological male athletes is really beyond me.

Because Riley should SHUT THE FUCK UP! of course. She shouldn’t be out there campaigning for protecting female sports categories because she is not the right sort of spokesperson for the cause.

That is what I am reading

Yes, and? She answered one question in one interview that wasn't about it.

And the problem is?

Well knock me down with a feather, a pro women's sports activist is taking up an opportunity to go on national tv to get publicity for her cause, and you wonder why she would do that?!!!

This is true.

And it seems that there are some
people who think that Riley Gaines shouldn’t be giving her insights on why the incident happened, why other people responded as they did and what the ramifications of the incident is. That she as being the recipient of the attack and having processed it and seen the interactions she just have shut the fuck up after Simone apologised.

Because, of course, that would be Riley being nice to Simone. After Simone so kindly apologised to her for her attack and for effectively positioning Riley as a bigot and worthy of such demeaning and demonisation.

It is quite enlightening, isn’t it?

@Helleofabore people love to cite GC campaigners appearing on right wing media outlets as some sort of criticism that undermines their entire credibility. But of course as we’ve seen in the UK with people like Helen Joyce and GB News, it is often the case that these are the only outlets which will give them regular airtime.

The absurd length of time it took Woman’s Hour to grant HJ her one and only slot is a prime example.

Riley Gaines is a campaigner for protecting women’s sports. She gives interviews frequently. Why should she be turning down interview opportunities now? Her campaigning was never reliant on Simone Biles’ at all.

Fox News interviewed her and they asked her a question. She answered it.

Of course she is going to be asked questions about the incident. The public are aware of it and Fox News wanted to capitalise on it.

Please link up Riley’s tweets after she publicly accepted Simone’s apology. I have looked and I cannot see the tweets that you are referring to.

And the grovelling refers to Simone attempting to appease extreme trans activists, I believe.

Yes, exactly.

Where did I write that? Please point to it.

The Fox TV interview, where she says Biles “grovelled”, comes after Simone Biles’ apology, and after this excerpt above. So Simone has apologised, but Riley Gaines is still tweeting and giving interviews.

Because other people had already tried to make it about status. That context exists regardless of whether Riley wants it to or not.

Riley is constantly called a loser by those who don't want to hear what she has to say, as though it matters whether she finished 1st, 5th or last. Some people who approved of Simone's initial attack cited her achievements as a point in her favour, as something to bolster her.

And lastly, Simone's status as one of the world's greatest sportswomen is why this exploded in the first place. It wouldn't have happened if the same words had been said by someone with 48 followers and their 25 metres certificate. There is also the question in the background of how much Riley's objectively lesser status was a relevant factor in Simone starting this in the first place, of course.

That's got nothing to do with your apparent belief that Simone's medals gives her some kind of moral upper hand over Riley.