Simone Biles attacks Riley Gaines

Newsom also recently had come out and declared he supported female only sport categories. Yet allowed male competitors such as Hernandez to qualify in the female sports category of the CIF competition.

It was only after protests at Hernandez’s inclusion (and the negative potential press when he would have won 3 events) that the CIF modified the policy so that no female would lose out. Too late for those girls who had already lost out in the preceding events.

So Newsom can be said to good for women and girls in some instances and not others. Like most politicians and political activists.

“And she’s five foot fucking 8 not five foot five - a cheap and unnecessary shot by the multi Olympic champion who fought through racism and adversity her whole life - but another example of the continued maga “post truth” culture because a women is blonde, white and petite.”

So Biles is excused then? Because Gaines is actually five foot fucking 8? And doesn’t have the racial axis of oppression that Biles has?

Good to know.

https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1931345437761376394

She's had her DH measure her on camera. 5' 5 1/2"

At times such as this, I often ask myself, 'What does Martina Navratilova think?'

Here we go:
'Riley is MAGA and I couldn’t disagree with her more on politics but on keeping sports safe and fair for girls and women I agree with her 100, As most people, republicans democrats and everything in between do also.'

https://x.com/Martina/status/1931354485621735707

"And she’s five foot fucking 8 not five foot five" as if five foot eight is about three times the height of five foot five, jesus christ

Your actual naivety is too much.

Gaines and co being able to present their eminently sensible views on men in sport as naturally falling to the right is a direct consequence of enough of the American left being stupid enough to allow them that. I say this as one who is left of centre myself.

Also, someone not knowing her exact height is 'post truth'?! How absolutely ridiculous of you. Even as you briefly admit Simone was in the wrong here, you relativise her obnoxious and also objectively stupid comment, and try to minimise it by comparing it to a simple, unimportant mistake.

It's also the trivial matters of the attempted annihilation of the sex-class of women and the human rights level of abuse of vulnerable children.

Women in the US are between a rock and a hard place and I would not condemn any woman who tries to work within any legitimate political party.

It makes it clearer though.

I might sum up a lot of this as "Riley Gaines votes for the party I don't approve of, therefore she deserves to share a locker room with a man walking around with his cock out."

This sort of tribalism might make people feel better, but when has it ever achieved anything?

Nice try to undermine RG and her personal experience of being told not to complain about a fully intact male changing in the locker room with the girls. Thomas is a straight man. This would be unheard of if he didn't claim to be a woman.

The views of Gaines on abortion etc are completely irrelevant in the context of sport. Her views by the way are shared by many millions of Americans.

Oh come on Op ….. your false naivety is too much here. The entire post that you have quoted is a political statement by the delightful MAGA poster girl you so admire. She states “Gavin Newsom is a weak, spineless, morally bankrupt coward” Thats Gavin Newson the current governor of California. The state that has not only fought and maintained abortion rights but also refuses to hand over details of out of state women or the doctors that help them to the maga fascists. The state that is actively bringing legislation to try and counteract the awful cuts to Medicare and food stamps that disproportionately affect women. Riley Gaines is a despicable woman who has actively supported and campaigned for Donald Trump and Paul Rund (the governor of Kentucky) where abortion is now illegal unless the mother is at risk of imminent death.

Riley Gaines political views are part and parcel of the appalling MAGA ideology and the insidious movement that is trying to convince women that these horrors are on their side because “at least they know what a women is” whilst single-handedly taking women’s rights back to the dark ages. Ffs - they jut passed a bill that makes it much harder to vote if you are a married women as your ID has to match your birth certificate.

And she’s five foot fucking 8 not five foot five - a cheap and unnecessary shot by the multi Olympic champion who fought through racism and adversity her whole life - but another example of the continued maga “post truth” culture because a women is blonde, white and petite.

Same old story, woman is against men competing in women's sport and then criticism is justified because of abortion and calling that person racist.

Gaines was criticised by Biles over the one issue of men in women's sport, not all this other whataboutery.

Gymnastics is sex segregated because women are not as physically strong as the men, and men are not as flexible as the women. It's a sport where transitioning is not going to give anyone an advantage. So Biles can make these statements from a naturally protected sport, she never had to worry about it.

And has everyone SEEN the reaction the idea of third space toilets in the last few weeks never mind third sports categories 😆

But I agree the world needs to find a solution and one solution could be - as SB and many others suggest, a separate category.

For anyone still saying, as if it's a brand new idea which no one has thought about, 'what about third spaces/open categories etc', a link was posted on the first page of this thread. Here it is again -

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/03/swimming-world-cup-category-for-transgender-athletes-cancelled-after-no-entries-received

Aside from the question of why women are facing demands to find a solution to accommodate male feelings, open categories etc are rejected outright as 'othering'. Only complete capitulation by women is seen as acceptable. Never mind the fact that women's sports are now being used as a option for mediocre male athletes to excel, at the expense of women.

But I agree the world needs to find a solution and one solution could be - as SB and many others suggest, a separate category.

For anyone still saying, as if it's a brand new idea which no one has thought about, 'what about third spaces/open categories etc', a link was posted on the first page of this thread. Here it is again -

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/03/swimming-world-cup-category-for-transgender-athletes-cancelled-after-no-entries-received

Aside from the question of why women are facing demands to find a solution to accommodate male feelings, open categories etc are rejected outright as 'othering'. Only complete capitulation by women is seen as acceptable. Never mind the fact that women's sports are now being used as a option for mediocre male athletes to excel, at the expense of women.

Utterly disappointing

Can you understand her body shaming Riley Gaines too? Is that acceptable to you? From a woman who has, quite rightly, previously complained about being told she has a manly physique doing that to another woman? She has absolutely no moral high ground here. What a disappointment she is.

https://x.com/MissVega8888/status/1931205346690838773

US Swimming tried a trans category following the Lia Thomas business and no one entered.

No trans woman wants a trans category. They only want access to the women's. It is disingenuous for SB to suggest that RG should be campaigning for this when no one wants it but also RG can campaign for what she likes, and what she wants is sex based sports. That's a perfectly legitimate cause.

I must admit I don't find either of these women terribly likeable.

It's hard to like someone who is such a Trump fan when you see what's going on in the States now. We're basically now seeing armed officers throwing people into jail, depriving them of food and water, in complete and open defiance of any law or justice. If you support that - which we have to assume Riley does - then that's entirely different to disliking someone because you don't share their views on tax, or grammar schools, or the Winter Fuel Payment!

As for Simone, not at all keen on the way she had GOAT sewn into her leotard - it's for other people to choose who they think is the greatest in any sport, not to self-declare it. Whilst I respected her withdrawal at the Olympics when she felt her safety was at risk, I disliked the way she seemed to receive more praise for that than the woman who actually won the competition!

I used to like her until I watched her Netflix docu. I thought she came across very spoiled and smug and just generally unlikeable but couldn’t quite put my finger on it

This is very clear.

Simone has just shown that she lacks the depth of knowledge that you would expect from someone with her sports experience who has just made a comment about this topic publicly. She had shown she has done little or no work to understand the topic.

And if she had she would have understood that separate events are not wanted by those male people. And when there has been separate prizes offered, that what ends up happening is that athletes who are not as exceptional as the male and female category winners are being rewarded as if they are.

There seems to be so much effort around including these athletes when studies have shown that this reduced performance can be reversed with training.

Exactly. Nobody can have it all ways and trans people are not special and different in this regard.

When I was a teen one of my friends left school to go to the Royal Ballet School, and there were high hopes she would make it as a top tier ballerina. She had the talent. But she grew too tall. And that was that. It was very hard for her.

A friend of a friend was scouted by a model agency and got some work, but was told she’d need to get skinnier to do really well. She was already a size 8 at a tall height. She just couldn’t and didn’t want to do it. So she had to leave modelling and carve out a new career.

Them’s the breaks. For all of us. Factors in our bodies beyond our control, and the choices we make, open and close opportunities for all of us. Trans people are no different and there’s no moral obligation to shield them from this particular reality at the expense of others.

But why are you contaminating your views on women’s rights in sport, and RG’s views on women’s rights on sport, with her other opinions? Why lump them together and decide that because her views on other issues don’t chime with yours, that she must therefore be wrong on this and deserve a kicking?

How could it be a solution when trans athletes won't accept it? There's nothing the rest of the world can do about that, unless you think they should be frogmarched to the events and forced to compete with a gun at their heads. The most that could be done to facilitate that is strict sex based categories, and even then excluding males from the women's doesn't automatically make them willing to participate in a trans event.

I don't understand why you're still saying this when it's been repeatedly pointed out to you that trans athletes don't want it. Simone at least was speaking from a position of ignorance. But you're not, now.