"Celebrate and honor the girls and women squarely in harm's way"- Riley Gaines shows support to women in the Israel-Hamas crisis on "Real Women’s Day"
Women’s Rights activist Riley Gaines has shown solidarity with women affected by the Israel-Hamas crisis on Real Women’s Day. The former NCAA swimmer expressed that it would be wrong for her to neglect the women in the war crisis, considering the significance she has established with October 10.
Previously, Riley Gaines expressed her discontent with renowned sports brands celebrating the achievements of transgender women during Women’s History Month in March. Gaines believed that the day should have been observed for biological women.
Therefore, she established Real Women’s Day, as XX is the Roman numeral for 10 and also symbolizes biological women. Gaines decided that October 10 would be the ideal date for the Real Women’s Day celebration because October is the 10th month of the year.
However, amid celebrating biological women, Gaines remembered the women suffering in the Israel-Hamas crisis. To show them solidarity, she shared a picture wearing a Real Women’s Day cap and wrote a heartfelt post on her X (formerly known as Twitter) handle that read,
"I would be remiss if I didn't specifically say this day should be used to celebrate and honor the girls and women squarely in harms way because of the violence that has broken out in the Middle East and everything it has led to."
In her post, Gaines also specified that the “Real Women’s Day” was for women with XX chromosomes and not those with Y chromosomes. Moreover, she added,
"Women are not menstruators, bleeders, chestfeeders, cervix-havers, uterus-owners, egg-producers, or people with birthing capacity. Women are just women. Adult human females," wrote Riley Gaines.
Riley Gaines called out the Penn State University for canceling her Real Women’s Day speech
Riley Gaines called out Penn State University for allegedly canceling her Real Women’s Day speech just one day before the event. This provoked the 23-year-old to highlight a month-old video of the University’s president promoting free speech on campus and encouraging the students to take a stand against hateful speakers.
However, she did not seem to back out. Gaines expressed her determination to still appear on campus with a megaphone to deliver her speech. Gaines wrote in her post,
"No way President of Penn State makes a whole video explaining why public institutions are legally obligated to let "bigots" apparently like me on campus to speak then proceeds to CANCEL my speech tomorrow for real women's day (X/X) Have it your way. See you tomorrow with a soap box and megaphone, Penn State!”
On October 10, the activist did show up at the campus. However, while delivering her speech she was constantly hindered by students protesting against her. But some students and adults showed her support.