Jennifer Sey, founder of the women's sports apparel brand XX-XY Athletics, says the FBI is investigating threats made against her life and the lives of her employees.
Sey revealed the investigation in an article for Daily Wire, describing the messages as far more serious than online abuse. "I now have open FBI investigations because of threats to my life and my employees' lives. Not mean direct messages, but real threats. Detailed descriptions of what they would do to me, my team, and our kids," she said.
Man confronts staff at offices
Sey said the threats turned physical last week when a man walked into the XX-XY Athletics offices demanding to see her by name. "Just last week, a man walked into our offices and demanded a meeting with 'Jennifer Sey!' He was dirty, unkempt, and shaking. I was sitting with three members of my staff. We all understood at the same moment that he meant us harm. Four terrified women somehow got him out of the building," she said.
Fears for family safety
Sey said she feared the man would follow her home that night, when she was alone with her daughter while her husband was out of town with their son. A private security contractor she knew came to her house as a favour and sat outside for a few hours before she told him he could leave.
"He left me bear spray that still sits in my bedside table. I slept with one eye open all weekend and one arm holding my daughter close. I am still scared he will come back and pull off whatever he planned," she said.
Trans athletes row in the WNBA
Sey is a retired gymnast and author who founded XX-XY Athletics, a brand whose stated mission is to empower female athletes and take a stand for fair competition. The company describes itself as being for everyone who believes in the transformative power of sport and the need for safety and fairness.
The 57-year-old has become a prominent figure in the debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports, a row that has engulfed the WNBA, the United States' top professional women's basketball league, in recent months. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham sparked a wave of protests and controversy after saying she wants to "protect young girls... who shouldn't have to go against biological men."
Amid the backlash over Cunningham's comments, she and Sey posed for a photo together alongside Riley Gaines, another prominent campaigner against transgender inclusion in women's sports.
'Not stopping'
Sey said running the company on top of the safety concerns has taken a heavy toll. "The physical demands of a startup are relentless. The emotional ones never end. And the pushback for this brand taking this stance, women's sports are for women, is worse than anything I experienced standing up for young gymnasts or during COVID, which was itself a worldwide lunatic asylum of policy," she said.
She said the abuse comes alongside what she called "endless hit pieces" that increase as her profile rises. "The hit pieces, of course, never deal with my actual words or my argument; they only seek to smear me as a person," she said.
Sey contrasted her situation with that of mainstream apparel brands. "I don't think Vuori has to deal with this... it should not be this hard. But it is. And we are not stopping," she said. "If you are not willing to die on a hill for free speech and children, do you even have a hill?"
