RILEY GAINES PODCAST： Why Don't More People Care about Women's Sports？
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Summary
Macy Petty is a volleyball player at Lee University in South Carolina. She talks about growing up in a male-dominated household and how she found her way into volleyball. She also talks about the challenges of being a female student-athlete in college and dealing with the politics that comes with it.
Transcript
00:00:03.400
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This next guest, she's someone who is truly brave.
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but she's someone who is actually an NCAA athlete now.
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She's still dealing with the administration from universities
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Macy, it is so, so good to be seeing you again.
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We have been involved in the same circle for a while now.
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And of course, both advocating for what we're advocating for,
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whether that's in DC, whether that's at the state level.
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And you are someone who has just ultimately inspired me.
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Would you mind giving the listeners a little bit of info about you?
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Um, what sports you played, you know, are you still playing?
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We used to see each other all the time, but, um, yeah, it's been such a blessing being able to,
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uh, do this and advocate with you and, and link arms in this way.
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Um, so yeah, just a little bit of background about me.
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I caught the volleyball bug back in middle school.
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I knew that I was willing to sacrifice whatever I needed to, to be able to continue my volleyball
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So I'm sure you had the similar experience, you know, not being able to go to prom, not
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going on all these fancy vacations, uh, but instead going to different volleyball tournaments
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Cause that's where they go to scout out, uh, the talent.
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And so at one of these volleyball tournaments, I got there and I looked at the other team.
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And I look across and there was a boy on the other team, um, very obviously male, um, not
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wearing volleyball spandex or anything like that.
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And I was really confused because, um, I didn't sign up to be in a co-ed league.
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And the boy teams were on the other side of the convention center.
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Like this wasn't really a thing people were talking about yet.
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And there were all these college recruiters around who were evaluating our skills, the
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And, um, so we, we played the game and this athlete was just slamming the ball on our face
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And something really specific about volleyball is that men's nets are over seven inches higher
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than female nets, which is crazy, uh, to think about, um, playing on a net over seven inches
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shorter than you should be, um, because of your biological advantage.
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And so I was going to say, it's almost as if they're acknowledging that men can jump higher
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that, that right there shows you that they know.
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And the fact, I mean, you can take this back, even like the fact that sports are separated
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to begin with, but, but they reflect our bodies.
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And so that's why a male net has to be, uh, has to be higher than a female net because
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Um, but despite that, this athlete was, that was playing on this net and it was really embarrassing.
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And, um, my team and I just kind of assumed that somebody was going to speak at like USAV
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or JVA, one of these associations, wasn't going to let this happen again.
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I went into my college career, even my freshman year, I got a phone call and they, somebody
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was asking me to testify for girls sports in South Carolina.
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I was like, why do we, why do we need to testify that boys and girls sports should be separated
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You're kind of just making things to complain about whatever.
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Um, so that's when I got involved with young women for America and which is a collegiate.
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Project of concern women for America and started advocating for them and was actually at the
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NCAA national championship where, uh, you tied with Leah Thomas.
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And so we were protesting that and I was able to speak to a lot of the female athletes there
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and the parents and, and just really, um, just put myself in this new perspective of
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like, this is really happening and people aren't speaking up for the female athletes.
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And so I was able to kind of, uh, amplify my voice and take it to the next level with
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Concerned Women for America and start testifying in more state legislatures and get involved,
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uh, here in DC with Congress and, and different members of Congress, which was very cool and
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Well, you're, you, yeah, you actually are in DC right now, aren't you?
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Um, you're returning with, um, heritage, that's amazing.
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Um, the way you acknowledge the problem and you question it, right?
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I think that's very natural when we're discussing something so basic and really so common sense.
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We do ask ourselves the question of, is this, are we really having a conversation about what
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And so we need something about it, which is, which is, as you mentioned, it's more than
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It's more, it's a heck of a lot more than the feminists are doing.
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Um, and so I couldn't be more grateful for your saying, and as I mentioned, you really
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Um, which is, it's wild to say that, that it's inspirational to say men and women are different,
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It's crazy because you're at NCAA and, you know, the presidential administration or, or
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like I said, USAV, JVA, these other organizations, you know, somebody would be putting a stop
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to this, but no, you know, it's, it's unfortunately come up to, um, to us and for female athletes
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to speak up for themselves because these organizations aren't just, you know, not speaking up for
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You mentioned you, you had some conversations, um, with the parents, with the female athletes
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themselves at that national championships where Leah Thomas was of course competing.
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Um, can you provide any insight as, as to what these parents, what, what message were they
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Is this something that, um, that bothered them?
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Honestly, just the, the feeling overall was just heartbroken.
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You know, they, they watched their daughters wake up at 4am and, and sacrifice so much
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and give so much of who they are to this sport to get to this day, to this moment.
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And, you know, they had to have been so proud as parents to see, um, their daughters just
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get the unbelievable achievement of even making it to the national championship.
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Um, but then they had to sit in the stands and, and watch a man steal the national championship.
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And then I cannot imagine what it must've felt like to see their daughters walk into that
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Um, so, and we were standing out there and there were so many tears of girls.
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Um, it's one thing to lose a national championship, but it's another thing to have it downright stolen
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from you because of somebody who's cheating and not playing by the rules.
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Um, and so, but it was, it was another thing to speak to the parents and just hear their
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gratitude that somebody was speaking out because I know that, um, a lot of these girls were
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And so I'm sure it was, it was good for these parents to see that there were female athletes
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who, uh, were able to use their voice and, and put, try to put a stop for this at the
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Well, I can tell you again, from my experience, when, when this was the first time we became,
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at least myself, right, I didn't know this really existed.
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I actually had heard of this whole trans issue in sports, but it was going the other way.
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I heard of women who were transitioning to men and competing with the men.
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And while, of course I, I didn't, I didn't understand, um, it didn't make sense to me.
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I didn't see ultimately a huge problem with it because it, it, it didn't affect anyone in
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a way that someone's opportunities were jeopardized.
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Um, and so, so that's the only way I had become aware of this, but when it happened to us and
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we were directly impacted by the whole Leah Thomas thing, and we were able to see you
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guys on the ground with your signs supporting, that was huge for me.
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Provide perspective for people who, who, you know, they, they say it's, it's not about the
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You didn't get the top spot on the podium where you lost your scholarship.
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It's, it's not merely about holding the tangible object of the trophy, but there is so much
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more value to sports that people don't realize that, especially if you've never played sports,
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um, there is so much more than athletic achievement.
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And so can you kind of provide perspective on, at least for you, the, the transferable skills
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you develop, the relationships you develop and what that looks like and how it really
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I, um, have definitely learned all kinds of things that I wouldn't have apart from, apart
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from sports and some of those things I'm just now realizing now that I'm entering my professional
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career, you know, there's things like working together as a team for a common goal or being
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able to communicate and, and overcome, um, different trials and miscommunications and, and different
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Those are all things that you have to learn when you're on a team and you're, you're fighting
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I was even talking to my dad last night and I was so scared because I was talking to him.
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I was like, dad, I have to figure out how to get a full-time job soon.
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I'm going to have to make all these phone calls and write all these emails.
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And I was like, wait a minute, this feels a lot like my recruiting process for four and
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And so even just some of those really specific, um, transferable skills that are paying off
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totally long-term and I'm sure we'll continue to pay off.
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Um, I'm, there's some statistic out there that blows my mind every time about how most
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of the top executives that are women played sports and it totally makes sense.
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It gives you this sense of confidence and what it really means to work really, really
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And so going into a little bit of a different perspective, you think about people even like
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you who worked so hard for this goal, but then had someone able to steal it away just
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because of his biological sex and because he was allowed to exempt from the rules.
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So I would like to ask those people what that's telling these women and these girls, um, about
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their place in society and what, what that means for a man to be able to so easily steal something
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And, um, I don't know, it's, it's very interesting to me that, that that's not being talked about.
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Well, I love that you mentioned that because it really changes the frame of the argument
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because a lot of the left, again, I, this issue has become political, right?
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Uh, it's I'm, I'm general generalizing when I say the left, because at the state and federal
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level, it is the left who's opposing this, but the left, they say our argument is anti trans,
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but the way you've just described it about, about what about us, I think that's so powerful
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It doesn't, it doesn't, it's, it's not anti trans.
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And the way that this, this, again, the left had once embraced the feminist movement and
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now they're doing everything they can to deny women of opportunities and of safe spaces and
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locker rooms and changing spaces and prisons and sororities and, and the list goes on.
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And first I would like to clarify that this is, has never, and will never be about excluding
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trans athletes who identify as transgender from sports at all.
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I think that everyone should have an equal opportunity at pursuing sports, but just because
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you identify as transgender, you're not exempt from, from basic rules of the game that you
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Um, but, uh, specifically about feminism in general, um, I'm a big believer that men
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and women are different, um, not just biologically, but who we are and how we're created.
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And, uh, I think that's something that the feminist movement has lacked these past several
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decades, um, and honoring what it means to be a woman and the fact that we are different
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from men and man, is that manifesting now when, when they're trying to keep this single
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standard, even when it comes to sports, because we know men and women aren't different.
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And that doesn't mean that one is better than the other by any means, but we need to create
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And that only happens when you let men play against men and women play against other women.
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Um, Macy, I recently, I recently saw you in the news for, for something a little different
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than what, what I typically see you on Fox news on or Fox news for.
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So would you kind of fill up, fill us in on what you were doing on Fox and what you were
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Um, because I was incredibly interested to hear this.
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I, uh, I'd never used this, this new AI technology.
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And so, um, yeah, after I started speaking out about it, I got some phone calls from professors
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saying, I better not start using it when I get back to school.
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But I, I was kind of playing around with it and I had seen a reel from the night before
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that was, it was talking about how, um, we need to embrace this new technology because
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if you don't, you're going to quickly fall behind.
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And, and so I was like, you know what, I'm going to try it.
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And I was, I was, it was a national women's sports week.
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And so I was trying to compile all of these thoughts into one tweet and make it be under
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And so I, I asked chat GPT to, to shorten it for me and, and create this tweet that'll be
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And it came back and kind of gave me a slap on the wrist and saying, you know, we're not
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It wouldn't even consider helping, you know, formulate this tweet.
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Um, I, I mentioned it on that, on that Fox, uh, interview, but as female athletes, you
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know, we're standing up against big tech or we're standing up against NCAA and we're
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And now we're having to stand up against big tech and it's, it's crazy that all of these
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things are just denying absolute biological truth.
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And I was like, kind of made the joke of whoever was programming this AI must've forgot to put,
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you know, biological truth inside of it and tell it that, hello, men and women are different
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and it's not being exclusive, uh, to acknowledge that.
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You know, we, as, as 20 year old girls, some even younger than 20, um, 17, 18, 19, these
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girls were being asked to, to stand up for ourselves.
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When you, when you cross over that 18 years old, you are an adult and I understand we're
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adults, but there still feels like there should be people protecting us, especially when you're
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playing a sport like your coaches and like your, your athletic directors and your administrators
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and different things, but it's such a, such a valuable consideration to understand what
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And that, that is asking us to stand up to one of the law.
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I mean, the largest sport governing body, the NCAA, you're asking us to stand up to bid
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You're asking us, I mean, that's a lot to put on the shoulders of young girls.
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And so it begs the question of, of, you know, where are the men, um, what, what has, what
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Have you seen a culture shift in men, especially those of parents and coaches, as I mentioned,
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They're, they're bending a knee and they're, they're also bowing down to this ideology because
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they're, they're scared of what the opposition can do to them.
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If they don't, um, people like Charlie Baker, I'm going to say his name, NCAA, um, these,
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these big organizations, I believe wholeheartedly, especially in the older generation, um, they
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Younger generations, the people even younger than, than you and I, um, this is being, you
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know, preached in their ear from a very young age.
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And so I never, um, would like to blame any of them, uh, specifically these younger kids
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who I believe are absolutely victims of this ideology.
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Um, and they simply don't know better, but you cannot convince me that anyone in these
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They know exactly what they're doing and they are, they are choosing to bow down to this
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Um, I think my last and final question for you, again, me, I know you, I know your heart.
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Um, has that been instrumental and kind of understanding this topic and understanding how
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to advocate for fairness for women and ultimately fairness?
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It's, it's the issue of denying of objective truth and biblical truth.
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Well, obviously as an NCAA athlete, it is not an easy thing to speak up about.
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And it's something that I was, um, honestly kind of reluctant to do at first.
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I was, uh, getting pizza with my mom and I was standing in line and I got a call from
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young women for America asking me to testify on the girls sports issue.
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And I would have to, um, I probably shouldn't even, uh, it's fine.
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I got a call from young women for America and they asked me to testify on the issue and
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Um, and that is kind of unheard of, um, you don't, you don't miss volleyball practice,
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Um, and I, I was just like, sorry, no, I can't and hung up.
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And I was standing there with my mom and I felt like I was going to throw up.
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I was like, mom, I don't know what it is, but I think it's the Lord telling me I need
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And so I called my coach and I said, coach, you have every right to tell me I can't go,
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And so I called them back and I was like, yes, I can go.
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And, and so I, I testified in the very next day was the NCAA swimming and diving national
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And so I truly believe in my heart that that was the Holy spirit telling me that he was calling
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me to this fight and that I needed to call back and give them a yes.
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And so ever since it's kind of been this trajectory of, of being more involved and just seeing the
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Lord call me to this and man, the confidence that that can give me, uh, that I didn't have
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before of just knowing that the Lord who literally was the one who created male and female is on
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And I have confidence that he will give me the words to say when I, when I am speaking and
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that, uh, he will continue to provide opportunities and, and other things like that.
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And so it has definitely been a game changer, just being able to lean on that and knowing
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It doesn't matter what the presidential administration says.
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I have the God who can move mountains on my side.
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Who am I to say no, um, or to, to bow down to anything, but the Lord almighty who created
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So that seriously moves me so much, like tears in my eyes.
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Um, we have a God that's who we will ultimately answer to not big tech, not the NCAA, not the
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Um, and so to hear you say that, to hear how he has, how he has moved through you, how he
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has his hand on you and how he has his hand on us in this battle.
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Um, again, myself being a Christian as well, the Bible tells us, it prophesizes, we will
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go through a time where our yeses, our nos and our nos are yeses.
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And I wholeheartedly believe we're living through that right now.
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Um, but the Bible also says we're on the winning side of this.
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And so Macy, I couldn't be more grateful for you, um, for your stance, for your fight.
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Um, especially, Hey, you are still an NCAA athlete.
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And when I, by the time I spoke up, I was graduating, I was a senior.
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And so, so being one of the few, actually, probably, probably one of the only who has
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actually been outspoken, who has been on the ground, who has been doing everything you
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And when I say us again, I mean, us as women, I mean, us as a society, us as a culture.
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And you're, you're truly a role model to so many.
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And so I couldn't be more grateful for your time here on the gains for girls podcast.
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Riley, thank you so much for having me and so much for the kind words.
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Uh, you have also been such an inspiration to me and your bold voice and your strong voice.
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And I can really just see the Lord working through you and inspiring so many other, uh,
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We got some gray hairs that are looking at you and, and so thankful that you are continuing
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the fight that so many, so many started even before we were even born.
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And so thank you for your boldness and, and your, um, compassionate fight and, and for
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Uh, she's a young girl who's taken a stand ultimately for the truth and for what's right
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and for what's fair for more than just herself.
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Um, how can you listen to that and not be encouraged to the, to do the exact same?
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Thank you for listening to the gains for girls podcast.
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Check us out on outkick.com, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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And we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday.