Swimming Against the Current Quotes

“I believe being forced to use preferred pronouns promotes reality distortion and a lack of basic respect for biology. Since I started advocating for women’s sex-based rights, I began to realize that even when I tried to be what I thought was kind and inclusive and used preferred pronouns, it wasn’t enough. Unless we undoubtedly believed men could turn into women and experience all the same things women do while not daring to question it, then you were showcasing transphobia. I was fully embracing fiction in the guise of showing respect.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“My jaw tightened. “You mean to tell me any man can walk into our locker room?”

He said nothing, avoiding eye contact.

Just a few years ago, if a man walked in the women’s locker room, he would be arrested and thrown in jail and thought of as a sexual predator.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“My teammates and I cut wide eyes with each other, not really understanding our emotions in that moment. Of course, we felt awkward, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. I remember specifically feeling betrayed. I thought of how our privacy as females had been entirely dismissed, violated, and ignored. There was no thought to how we would respond or how uncomfortable a male sharing this changing space with us would make us feel. It felt like we were pawns in a sick game catering to the male who claimed our identity but didn’t have the same physiology, anatomy, or chromosomes, to name a few… I desperately wanted to call my mom and dad and tell them of this situation in hopes they would reassure me that I wasn’t crazy in experiencing this as a total violation of our rights to privacy as women.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“tennis phenoms Venus and Serena Williams have experienced losing to a male with not nearly as much notoriety as they have… in a blowout. In 1998, in a matchup against Karsten Braasch, the 203rd ranked male tennis player from Germany, Serena lost 6–1 and Venus lost 6–2. Keep in mind Serena is a 23-time Grand Champion and her sister a 7-time Grand Champion. Serena herself said, “I hit shots that would have been winners on the women’s Tour, and he got to them easily.”

Is it a good time to mention at the time Braasch was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, and smoked during changeovers the day of the match? He also admitted to playing a round of golf and drinking a few cocktails before facing the Williams sisters as well as performing like “a guy ranked 600th.” Thirteen years later, in an interview with David Letterman, Serena noted she would lose to Andy Murray 6–0 in just a matter of minutes. She went as far to say men and women’s tennis is a totally different sport. Serena told Letterman, “I love to play women’s tennis. I only want to play girls because I don’t want to be embarrassed.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“It’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. 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.

Most of those who openly and proudly call themselves feminists believe men and women are equal and the same, which is why I mentioned I wouldn’t have previously considered myself a feminist. 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.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“I would find out later that Kylee Alons of North Carolina State University, who is a 31x All-American, was so uncomfortable at having to share a locker room with a naked male, she changed in a storage closet. Kylee, NC State’s most decorated swimmer of all time, admitted to being constantly on edge whenever she had to go to the locker room. Knowing Thomas could walk in at any given moment, she always had a towel and parka nearby.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“A few months later, in honor of Women’s History Month, ESPN released a special on Thomas. Of all the female athletes who could have been chosen, someone who was not even born a female was handpicked. These actions are regressive and misogynistic.
No female swimmer was honored during this Women’s History Month special by ESPN. Only Thomas.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“One more thing to mention that is unique to swimming locker rooms is that there is a lot of undressing, multiple times a session. We arrived in our clothes and changed into our practice suits to warm up, then we changed from our practice suits into our racing suits, then from our racing suits back into our practice suits to finish warming down, and then from our practice suits back into our clothes. So just in one session, you would undress down to nothing four times. Then we would come back for finals that same day and repeat the process all over again. Just trying to hit home the fact that there were lots of opportunities to be seen fully exposed each day.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“I constantly refer to this phrase of true-love and what that really means. These words are synonymous, truth and love; it is loving to say the truth. It’s not loving or kind or compassionate to deceive, manipulate, or affirm delusions. That’s the exact opposite of love. Don’t let the world skew your understanding of what love is.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“Violence is not the answer from either side of the debate. Common sense is. Unfortunately, little by little, truth is being drowned out by fear and intimidation. The more we allow this to continue, the less freedom we will have. And once our freedom is taken away, what do we have left?”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“but I didn’t understand why we had to jump through hoops to “respect” someone who clearly had zero respect for us.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“FINA put together these guidelines with experts that included athletes, scientists, and individuals advocating for legal and human rights. It was ultimately FINA’s ruling that restricted Lia Thomas from taking an Olympic spot on the women’s team, a goal he was determined to achieve, as expressed in some interviews following the NCAA Championship. By the way, we swimmers don’t know what Thomas’s level of testosterone was at the time of competition.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“Apparently, asking for equal opportunities for women in sports was way too controversial.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“Success depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“when common sense and truth are exposed, people resort to violence and threats to try to annihilate what is true.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind

“Swimming is a sport that measured down to the hundredth of a second. To have one person beating every girl in the entire country by nearly two full seconds is an anomaly. Instead of the expected celebratory cheers from a usually boisterous crowd, the audience’s response to Thomas’s win fell unusually flat. There were even audible boos from the stands. Weyant’s announcement was a different story. When her second-place victory was broadcast, the aquatic center exploded in applause, whistles, and shouts of acclaim. The difference between the two swimmers couldn’t have been more obvious. People were saying with applause and cheers what they couldn’t or wouldn’t say with their words.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind

“I was getting dressed back into my clothes from my practice suit when it was like someone unplugged the sound. Dead silence. My back was turned toward the door, but before I even turned around, I knew what this silence meant. It would answer my curious question of what the locker room would look like. Upon turning around and shifting my eyes upward to the 6′4″ Thomas, I immediately felt the inherent need to cover my chest, as someone with a male gaze and a male voice entered the room. Some of the girls grabbed towels, shirts, or whatever was close by and covered the exposed parts of their body. Other girls looked the other way. We were all in various stages of nakedness. None of us said a word. I can’t accurately put into words the feelings of violation when hearing a man’s voice in the locker room where you are fully nude. Thomas walked toward the corner of the locker room and began to change out of a women’s practice suit and get naked. Right in front of us. No introduction, no “Excuse me,” no explanation, no privacy for us.

My teammates and I cut wide eyes with each other, not really understanding our emotions in that moment. Of course, we felt awkward, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. I remember specifically feeling betrayed. I thought of how our privacy as females had been entirely dismissed, violated, and ignored. There was no thought to how we would respond or how uncomfortable a male sharing this changing space with us would make us feel. It felt like we were pawns in a sick game catering to the male who claimed our identity but didn’t have the same physiology, anatomy, or chromosomes, to name a few… I desperately wanted to call my mom and dad and tell them of this situation in hopes they would reassure me that I wasn’t crazy in experiencing this as a total violation of our rights to privacy as women.”
― Riley Gaines, Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind