First and foremost, I believe that as humans, we are all entitled to a difference in opinion. This article is in no way intended to attack those who do not identify as feminists. However, I feel that one needs to be informed on the difference between feminism and misandry, and why feminism is important before you can say, "No, I'm not a feminist."
As a woman, have you ever voted? Are you currently enrolled in or looking at colleges? Do you know women who serve our country in the military? Do you have your own bank account? If you said yes to any of the questions above, you can thank feminists throughout the course of history for that.
Through the course of history, people have been told "all feminists hate men." False. All misandrists hate men. According to Merriam-Webster, feminism is "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes" and misandry is "a hatred of men." Now, I could stop writing this article right here and I'm sure a few people would have learned something new.
I understand that there are radical feminists, but every political and social group an entire group cannot be defined by their radicals. Oftentimes, radical feminists can be misandrists just operating under a feminist alias.
The media and pop-culture have definitely not helped the image of the feminist throughout our lives. Female stars who say, "I'm not a feminist because I don't hate men" do not know what feminism is.
Feminism is also not just for women. John Legend, Ryan Gosling, and even the Dalai Lama are all self-proclaimed feminists.
Now, what's the big deal? Why can't we all just be humanists or egalitarians? We can. And we should be. But we should also realize the feminism falls under both of those categories, whether you like the word "feminist" or not. By being a humanist, you advocate for human interest and human value. If you advocate for that, you should realize that you also advocate for the equal value of women by default. If you are an egalitarian, you advocate for the removal of inequalities among people. In doing that, you're automatically advocating the removal of inequality between women and men.
If you have a problem with the word "feminist," while I understand, I do not agree. There is a stigma that surrounds "society's dirtiest F-Word," but it is through education that we can help remove it. It is a title for female empowerment because someone throughout the course of history decided that, because of my reproductive organs, I do not deserve the same privileges as men. Sexism is a very real problem in all parts of the world, and we need to start believing in and advocating for equality of the sexes.
