OutKick's Riley Gaines Headlines Independent Women's Forum Bus Tour Stop In Nashville

OutKick's Riley Gaines — host of the Gaines For Girls podcast — was on hand for the Independent Women's Forum: Take Back Title IX Summer 2024 Bus Tour's stop in Nashville this week, which was hosted by Hot Mic's own Jonathan Hutton and Chad Withrow.

The event saw a substantial list of women fighting the good fight to keep women's sports exactly that: women's sports. That included Gaines, Coach Kim Russell, Paula Scanlan, and many more speakers who shared their personal stories and talked about new plans to alter Title IX.

After speaking, Gaines sat down with Withrow for a quick chat and she talked about how, despite once feeling terrified about taking a stand, she is now confident in the decision to stand up.

"I was terrified when I first publicly put my face to [the fight to save women's sports] because I believed everything they told me."

The former University of Kentucky swimmer — who was in dental school before speaking up about the erosion of women's rights in athletics — said that she feared speaking out would cause her to lose friends and career opportunities.

"I believed that," she said. "They told me I would lose my scholarship. I was terrified. But I realize now that was all gaslighting; is what it was. It was emotional blackmail and that's how they force so many of us into submission."

Gaines said she tried to play the game, thinking that it was the mark of a good person, but one phrase brought that to an end.

"One day, in an interview — talking; like this — they asked me about the locker room, and I used the phrase ‘her penis,’" Gaines explained. "It was like a punch to my gut. I realized what I was doing, how I was participating in the farce by that even coming out of my mouth. I felt so guilty, I felt responsible, I felt just as bad as the people who created and enforce these policies."

You can watch the entire Independent Women's Forum: Take Back Title IX Summer 2024 Bus Tour event in Nashville below: