Meet Ainsley Erzen and Marshi Smith – two brave women fighting for biological reality and sanity in women’s sports

Ainsley Erzen is the daughter of Todd Erzen, one of Steve Deace’s cohosts on the “Steve Deace Show.”

And she’s one heck of an athlete. Ainsley competes in not one but two collegiate sports at the University of Arkansas — “one of the top women’s athletic programs in the country.”

Today, Ainsley and Marshi Smith, who’s a former national champion and a cofounder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, join the show to discuss their efforts to restore biological reality and sanity in sports and women’s spaces.

In 2005, Marshi took home the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the NCAA championships.

“That was one of the best days of my life,” she says.

Needless to say, when she watched trans swimmer Lia Thomas take home the trophy at the 2022 NCAA swim and dive championships, she was overcome with a “flood of devastation” for the women who were cheated out of a rightful title.

This is what led her to partner with other alumni swimmers to found the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.

“At ICONS, we have set off in the last two years to try and rectify and advocate for the vast majority of female athletes, like Ainsley, who recognize that female athletes deserve respect, fair treatment, and fair competition,” says Marshi.

According to her, the tides are turning. The organizations behind pushing men’s rights in women’s sports have been “meeting in the dark,” and what they’ve built is “a house of cards on shifting sand,” she says. “That house of cards is about to blow.”

And Ainsley is courageously taking part in the movement to restore integrity in women’s sports.

“Standing up is scary,” she says, but “doing nothing is far scarier.”

“I’m super fortunate to have people like Riley Gaines who are willing to speak up and lay the foundation for this issue and be trailblazers,” Ainsley tells Steve. “As she’s gained more and more courage, so have the rest of us. We’ve been seeing what she’s doing, and we want to help in any way we can.”

To hear what Ainsley is doing to fight for real women in the athletic world, watch the video below.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.