Two formidable female athletes are joining forces to share tales with children of the fight to defend opportunities for women in sports.
Former University of Kentucky swimming star Riley Gaines, an Outkick contributor, as well as professional surfer Bethany Hamilton are hosting a children’s story hour featuring their inspirational new titles from Brave Books at The Library Center in Springfield, Missouri, on Feb. 2.
“Together our message is stronger,” Gaines, host of Outkick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast, told Fox News Digital.
“We’re drawing a clean line in the sand to show people where we stand,” she said.
The two watersports stars became high-profile champions of women’s sports after speaking up against the sudden incursion of biological men into female competitions.
But they’ve faced a tidal wave of hate and intolerance, plus career hardships, in response to their efforts to preserve opportunities for women in sports that were denied to those of past generations.
“People have wished death upon my life,” Hamilton told Fox News Digital in a phone interview from the remote Hawaiian island of Kauai.
“It makes you sad that society can be so gnarly,” she added.
Hamilton earned acclaim as one of the world’s most successful surfers, despite losing her left arm during a shark attack in 2003 when she was just 13 years old.
Now she’s earned the ire of cancel culture after she gave up her career in Feb. 2023 to protest the World Surf League’s decision to allow men to compete in women’s competitions.
“Men’s and women’s bodies are created differently, and we have different strengths and weaknesses no matter how hard we try,” said Hamilton, who recently welcomed her fourth child.
“It’s not fair and I can’t support it,” she said of men competing in women’s sports competitions. “I need to stand up for the next generation of girls pushing surfing forward. I want the best for them.”
She’s lost sponsors, is facing a boycott over a speaking engagement in Wisconsin next month and has suffered ruthless personal attacks, with several people shamelessly alluding to the loss of her arm.
