sleep that night. The word the wool had been utterly stripped from my eyes. I now understood. And when I shared this with my mother in law the next day she said, Well, there you go. We are literally flying the plane upside down now aren't we? The next morning my education began. I woke up determined to figure out what had gone wrong. What did I miss? I started researching feminism. I read JK Rowling statement read court history and medical papers. I started writing emails to politicians. I ordered books online and read every article I could find. I could not bear to see women's sports redefined and reworked to no longer be a place where women could pursue and celebrate their physical limits without comparing themselves to men. While I was reading my daughter and the rest of the girls in the Ivy League, we're getting another kind of education, the kind no one should receive. The Ivy League released their statement literally dripping with sexism. I put. The Ivy League releases the following statement of support regarding Ken's Leah Thomas's participation on the women's swimming and diving team. Over the past several years, Leah and the University of Pennsylvania have worked with the NCAA to follow all the appropriate protocols in order to comply with the NCAA policy on transgender athlete participation and compete on the Penn women's swimming and diving team. The Ivy League has adopted and applies the same NCAA policy. The Ivy League reaffirms its unwavering commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all student athletes while condemning transphobia and discrimination in any form. Believe welcomes for participation in the sport of women's swimming and diving and looks forward to celebrating the success of all of our student athletes throughout the season. And quote, my daughter screenshotted the message and sent it to me I'm so confused, was the text that I received. But not to worry, the schools were ready and prepared to address any confusion their athletes might have. mandatory meetings were called with scripts read off by coaches from the athletic department or in some cases handed out the girls already caught off guard and intimidated but upset. We're now silenced. They were manipulated, coerced and emotionally blackmailed. They were told their leagues and their schools had spoken and made their positions clear. They his athletes had made the decisions to be a part of these schools and this league and they needed to support it. They were told if they had opinions, or were asked to speak, they had to clear it through their coaches and their athletic department leaders. This was also of course for their own protection has no one wants their team slung through the mud. Finally, they were told their first priority needed to be the safety and protection of their of their trans classmates who are being thrust into the media. Any harm or damage that befell their classmates due to expressing opinions that might not support them would be their responsibility. Work done Message received. Now there was little to no chance they would speak out. I know girls from Harvard, Penn, Dale and Dartmouth, that all received various versions of this same message. After these meetings, I spoke to my daughter the influence was clear. She thought it was completely unfair that Leah was competing. She confirmed that almost all the girls did and they spoke about it amongst themselves. She said There have been talks of one team of girls boycotting their domain. And some of the faster girls from other schools wanting to sit on the blocks in direct races with Leah. That those ideas were disappearing. She wanted no part of being hated on her campus. No part of hurting people that she knew, and no part of being embarrassingly kicked off her team. She said the instructions she got were to extend to the families of the swimmers. I said hello. We agreed I would do my best to stay anonymous. There were still conversations among the mothers as the girls prepared for jovenes How are you helping your daughter? What is she telling you? What should I tell my girl? I know that my daughter took two days to emotionally prepare to basically she spent the days writing down her thoughts, working through her emotions, trying to mentally prepare for standing in front of a crowd next to a man where everyone President knew the race was unfair, but no one would speak she knew she would not win but this was not about shame and losing. This was about being asked to measure her worth as a female athlete, next to a pharmaceutically hamstrung man who wouldn't make her look like a child. Yeah,