Matthew Kaley | 2026 I.S. Symposium
狈补尘别:听Matthew Kaley
罢颈迟濒别:听Protecting Women’s Sports or Policing Womanhood?: Ideological Analysis of Riley Gaines’s Anti-Transgender Rhetoric
惭补箩辞谤:听Communication Studies; Global Media & Digital Studies
Advisor: Denise Bostdorff
This study employs ideological criticism to analyze Riley Gaines鈥檚 rhetoric about transgender athletes, focusing on her posts on X and a podcast episode. The analysis finds that Gaines: (1) describes transgender women as not real women, (2) presents them as inherently stronger than cisgender women, (3) suggests cisgender women need protection from transgender athletes, and (4) endorses legislative bans and Republican candidates as ways to provide that protection. The study highlights the rapid spread of anti-transgender rhetoric by social media influencers. Gaines鈥檚 framing of protecting cisgender women from being replaced by transgender competitors exaggerates how often such competition occurs, as her rhetoric aligns with broader right-wing and white supremacist narratives.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
