Dear feminists, I promise you aren’t crazy.

Feminism is widely known but commonly misunderstood. I'm sure you’ve heard boys say things like "crazy" or "man-haters" to describe women who are passionate feminists, which you and I both know are wrong. Being a feminist is nothing any woman, or man for that matter, should be ashamed of. Feminism means believing that men and women should have equal social, economic, and political rights - which I wouldn’t describe as crazy.

If you’re upset about somebody slut shaming your friend, and someone tells you you’re irrational because “it's true” don’t listen to them; you don’t need that negativity in your life. It’s a known double standard that men are praised for being highly sexually active while the opposite is shown for girls. If it's cool for guys to go around sleeping with women, how come the same social standard isn’t there for girls as well? I found myself running into these questions, especially in college where I hear boys slut shaming girls that they don’t even know. This made me extremely infuriated, and people have called me or others “crazy” for speaking out on it, which is really aggravating because I shouldn’t be labeled as crazy for making a valid point just because it's uncommon that people actually speak out on it.

What I don’t understand the most is how other women could be against feminism. Yup, it’s a thing that some women are against feminism. Do you who are “against feminism” realize that without feminism you basically would have zero rights? Without the feminist activists, you wouldn’t be able to vote or even work the same type of job as a man. If you honestly believe that feminism should’ve never existed, then I suggest you forget about college and just be a housewife because that’s basically the message that’s sent when you say things like that.

Another thing to address that many aren’t aware of is feminism is not all about females! Woah! We want men to have equality too, surprising right? As feminists, we believe that men should be able to act sensitive, and submissive and not be labeled as less of a man, as well as the fact that a man can have a great sense of style without being labeled as “gay” or “queer” for that reason alone. We don’t hate men, we don’t only care about females, but we do care about equality for all.