Simone Biles attacks Riley Gaines

I think it’s a bit of a mealy mouthed apology given that she hasn’t deleted the previous two tweets, if she were genuinely contrite she’d delete them.

She’s certainly being given a lesson in FAFO because the TRA’s are turning on her in droves. This ideology will try and destroy people one way or another, because there’s no reason or logic involved, it’s like trying to eat soup with a fork.

She's finding that there's no way to bat for both young girls wanting fair opportunities in sport AND boys who think they're girls who want girls' spots on the team.

Ypu gotta pick a side Simone.

She's definitely had a backlash from TRAs yep. Lots of them seemed to think she'd come round to their side and were willing to overlook the third category suggestion, presumably because of the person she was having a go at. Whereas more of them are now noticing that this is multiple tweets where she's conspicuously not said she wants categories based on gender identity rather than sex.

Yes, I think the body shaming lost her a lot of support from people who might otherwise have been on her side and forced her to check herself. And that probably meant that she had to pay attention to everything else Riley said in response to her.

I'm not on Twitter so I can't see any replies to her tweets but I also imagine she got some backlash from trans activists saying they don't need trans sporting categories because trans women are women and taking hormones removes the advantage of going through male puberty, which as an athlete, Simone will know is complete bullshit.

Then there's the fact that Riley is an openly conservative woman who cosies up to Trump, which makes her very easy to dismiss as a bigot, but if you listen to what she has actually said here (which Simone will have had to do), she comes across as very well-informed, measured and reasonable on this subject.

Hopefully it was a teachable moment for Simone and she'll have come away thinking, "shit, I was the baddy" and, "maybe it's not as simple as trans people good, Riley Gaines bad".

Agree it's significant.

I think if she'd just done the first tweet and left the body shaming out of it, she could plausibly have just ignored the subject, waited for it to go away and if she were ever asked, make non committal noises about inclusion, hate and finding solutions for everyone. But that is not, of course, what happened!

I think the fact that she has climbed down is quite significant though, even if her PR people advised her to do it. I thought it was quite a decent apology.

Not sure about damaging her legacy. Simone is too big a deal for one ill advised social media performance to do that.

What it has damaged is her ability to shill sportswear to women using body positivity messaging. Hence the climbdown.

I think 'damaging her legacy' is a bit dramatic.

However as an athlete who's always been a role model to young girls, it's pretty devastating to find that she isn't prepared to stand up for their rights to sports of their own and is worried about the feelings of boys instead.

You’ll have to ask the people posting the videos. Or watch some of them. I just pointed out that they are there.

Why would it damage her legacy? It’s a tweet. She’s still an Olympic gymnastic champion.

I always think it is interesting when an unsuspecting poster who considers herself pro-choice innocently mentions that she thinks abortion rights ought to have limits, and is totally shocked when she is jumped on by people telling her that means she is not pro-choice, and all feminist/pro-choice people must support abortion for any reason right up to the moment before birth.

I's seen a few really shocked, and with a suddenly very differernt view of why some people, in the US in particular, aren't on board with the pro-choice lobby.

It's clearly a scripted pr statement not her personal thoughts.

She's not had a moment of epiphany. She's paid someone to do a damage limitation exercise.

That's a real backing down by Simone, and a rare thing to see. I doubt she'll say anything at all on this again.

Yes the style is very different to her previous post, isn't it? Still unimpressed

There’s quite a few videos on YouTube asking if Simone Biles has damaged her legacy over this. And that half apology didn’t sound like it came from her mouth. I think the media in the US has been questioning her tweets rather than supporting her.

I thought that. Is TRA/TWAW looking a bit tired and stale now? Not the cool kidz choice any more?

Great response from Riley. I suspect Simone Biles will get some TRA flak for the apology too, so she deserves some credit for this.

If her PR team have stepped in, it's because what she has said has damaged her reputation.

That's interesting.

Riley nails it again. I do hope Simone reads and digests what Riley is saying because she lays it out very clearly.

Definitely. The line about 'welcoming' is great. It's highlighting that Simone still hasn't actually said she thinks males ought to be able to ID into women's sports.

And who knows, maybe she's on a secret terfy path? It would not be the first time someone took exception to the tone from an already radicalised sex based rights defender, presumed they were the first person to have ever thought of eminently reasonable third space solutions, and eventually realised it's not the GCs who are preventing those from working.

Wow. Great response.

Superb reply from Riley Gaines:

I accept Simone's apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She's still the greatest female gymnast of all time. A couple of things. Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play sports. Competition, on the other hand and by definition, is exclusive. So the idea of "competitive equity" is nonsensical. Secondly, the boys are publicly humiliating the girls. To suggest that women and girls must be silent or ignore a boy who is PUBLICLY hurting or humiliating them is wrong. You can't have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you're ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them. I am not ashamed to be a voice for the voiceless. Lastly, I agree with you that the blame is on the lawmakers and leaders at the top. Precisely why I'm suing the NCAA and support candidates who vow to stand with women. That's why I joined
@realDonaldTrump at the signing of his Executive Order. I didn't see you there or championing this effort with your platform. Women's sports can't be used as an excuse for girl's to center the feelings and validation of men and boys. I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had.

https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1932493510868906128

It read to me like there wasn't any thinking involved. She saw something she found objectionable from someone who she disagrees with on a lot of things, and didn't pause for breath.

Quite.

It appears she got her arse handed to her by the TRAs also. So quite what she hoped to achieve with this is not obvious.

I thought the exact same thing!

Because wherever one is on the trans in sports issue, this was terribly executed. If she wanted to come out as a trans ally or whatever, and it's notable she still hasn't actually said TWAW or that males should be able to self ID into women's sports, it could've been done in a way that would allow her to gain maximum commercial benefit. Body shaming in a way that makes you also look thick is not that.