Former US gymnast, now businessperson Jennifer Sey has launched XX-XY Athletics, a clothing line dedicated to protecting women’s unhindered place in sports. Sey has enlisted Riley Gaines and others as spokespersons for the new product, which features both workout function and post-workout fashion items.

Today I'm launching my own clothing brand. It's the only athletic brand to stand up for female athletes and the protection of women's sports.

It's called XX-XY Athletics.

I hope you'll join us. @xx_xyathletics @Riley_Gaines_ @PaulaYScanlan @icons_women pic.twitter.com/GZkcJbh54W

— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) March 25, 2024

Sey, whose background includes detailing the abuse to which she was subjected during her gymnast career and walking away from a six-figure salary at Levi Strauss so she could continue speaking freely against the COVID overreaction, provides gravitas to the company being something other than a half-baked attempt to capitalize on a current hot button social topic. Bringing Gaines on board as a spokesperson shows authentic marketing savvy.

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The brand’s inaugural commercial, as shown on its website, is a slap of cold reality in the face of those advocating for acceptance of biological males competing in women’s sports.

If you think girls' and women’s equality matter, stand up. If girl's and women’s sports matter, and you want your daughters to have the same opportunity you had, stand up. If you know that it isn’t fair or safe to allow males to compete in girl’s sports because it’s, well, obvious, stand up.

Don’t be cowed by people who call you a bigot. You’re not a bigot. Don’t let men tell us how to be “good girls.” Don’t tell others tell you you just need to be quiet; sit down, be nice. It’s not “nice” to further a lie.

It’s not mean to believe in women’s equality. We deserve our own sports. Privacy. Fairness. Safety. We deserve a chance to compete … and win.

So, don’t be nice. Don’t be careful. Be honest. Be brave. Fight for women. We’ve come too far to give up now. And, if you agree with that, stand up and stand with us.

In addition to pointing out how allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports embodies George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”-based sardonic comment that while all animals are created equal, some are more equal than others, the new clothing line brings to mind some things I have learned during my present tenure at a sporting goods store.

Girls are different than boys. You would think that would be obvious, but it sadly needs to be said in a society growing increasingly inept at understanding the difference between equality and force-fed identicalness. This is especially true in sports. Girls don’t take sports any less seriously than boys, but overall, Cyndi Lauper was correct. Girls just want to have fun. This is readily achievable when the parent or parents are not breathing down their neck trying to live out their glory days, or more accurately lack thereof, through their offspring.

Girls in sports, as compared to boys in sports, remind me of the truism a musician friend once told me that the difference between rockers and jazz cats is that when rockers get together, they compare their musical equipment. In contrast, when jazz cats get together, they compare the places where they’ve played. It is a classic case of valuing performance over purchase. Anyone whose small fry plays baseball or softball quickly learns there are a seemingly limitless number of different bats and gloves out there, about which little Johnny knows the most minute details regarding manufacturing and materials. Jane is far more often less particular regarding the brand. Again, this doesn’t mean girls are any less into performance. The store where I work has a small batting cage in which the athlete can hit off a tee. The best hitters by far I’ve seen are high school and collegiate softball players. Why? They’re not trying to macho-mash the ball. Instead, they adhere to solid hitting fundamentals. The lack of interest in having the exact brand and model of any given glove or bat is rooted in these things being secondary to enjoying the game itself.

Sports at the public competition level are meant to enhance life, not serve as a vessel for social engineering experiments. Respecting and promoting time-tested societal truisms shouldn’t be controversial, yet sadly, this is what it has become. I wish Jennifer Sey well in her new enterprise and hope XX-XY Athletics succeeds in bringing some sorely needed sanity to women’s sports. You know — sports played by women?