Riley Gaines didn’t think saying ‘men and women are different’ would turn her into an influencer — but it did

OutKick's Riley Gaines emerged as a social media influencer for saying something she didn’t think was controversial: "Men and women are different." 

Gaines, a 12-time All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky, emerged as a household name in conservative circles in 2022 when she tied transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship and refused to remain silent about being forced to compete with a biological male. She has since become one of America’s most influential advocates for women’s rights, with over 1 million followers on X and hundreds of thousands more across other platforms. 

"It's wild to me that I've now garnered … over a million followers just on X alone for saying something that in the nearly 250 years we've been established as a country has never been controversial," Gaines told Fox News Digital. 

"But now, and in the world and the time that we live in, it is deemed controversial," she continued. "All I'm saying is men and women are different."

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Riley Gaines emerged as a social media influencer for saying something she didn’t think was controversial: "Men and women are different."  (Fox & Friends Weekend/Screengrab)

Gaines is also an ambassador for the Independent Women’s Forum, hosts OutKick's "Gaines for Girls" podcast, penned a bestselling book, "Swimming Against the Current," directs the Leadership Institute's Riley Gaines Center and regularly meets with legislators across the country. 

"This is never a position that I wanted to be in. It's never something that I prepared for. It's never something that I sought after. But I saw a need," Gaines said.

After she competed against Thomas, Gaines noticed it was rare for athletes to speak out against what she called the "harmful gender ideology movement," so she attempted to fill the void and defend biological women. 

"It has been a whirlwind these past two years," she said. 

"Social media, it has allowed for me to continue highlighting, not just what happened to me," Gaines continued, "but the growing number, the exponential number of stories of this happening to other athletes."

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Riley Gaines is one of America’s most influential advocates for women’s rights with over 1 million followers on X and hundreds of thousands more across other platforms.  (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Gaines said women athletes aren’t the only people impacted by the gender ideology movement, as the corporate world and academia are also impacted. 

"Now we're seeing it in beauty pageants and sororities and in prisons and all over where people are, again, being negatively impacted by the agenda that the people in the White House, President Biden and certainly trickling all the way down are pushing on our society and on our culture," Gaines said. 

Gaines, who prefers X to other social media platforms because of owner Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech, said she has made good friends on the platform that she wouldn’t have met otherwise. She also uses the platform, along with Instagram, in a personal capacity — much like any other 24-year-old with a smartphone. 

"There's more to me than just this issue. I'm a big-time hunter … so I follow a lot of, you know, outdoor hunting, fishing accounts — love that kind of stuff. I'm a big animal lover, have lots of dogs. I follow all the dog accounts. Sports. I'm still very much involved in sports, keeping up with sports. So, I follow my favorite sports teams," she said. 

"Social media contributes greatly to staying up to date, keeping up," Gaines said. "It contributes to the joy that I have on a day-to-day basis."

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Former President Donald Trump is joined onstage by Riley Gaines at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, U.S., Aug. 6, 2022.  (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Gaines is grateful that social media has given her the platform to make a difference and is happy to add "influencer" to her growing list of monikers.  

"I understand the weight that comes with that … I've got little girls, you know, young girls looking up to me as a role model, and it makes my day. There are very few, I think, people who we can look up to as role models. And I hope to, with my platform through social media, continue to be that person for younger girls, the next generation," Gaines said.

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Fox News Digital's Ramiro Vargas contributed to this report. 

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