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

Gaines emerged as a social media influencer with over 1 million followers on X alone for saying something she didn’t even think was controversial.

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