I want to preface this by saying that everyone has a right to an opinion. But you should be fully informed before you form said opinion. 'I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists' is an article written last year by a fellow Odyssey writer. However, like SO MANY other articles of similar content, you disagree with feminism based on things that it is not. Your view of feminism does not truly represent it, and I think if you fully understood the concept, you might rethink your words.
One of the first lines of the article says "my inspiration actually came from a man (God forbid, a man has ideas these days)."
What?
This is your first huge misconception. Contrary to what you may think, feminism is about equality, not the downfall, degradation, or disrespect of the male species. Men can be (and are often) feminists. They support the idea that their wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, friends, etc. shouldn't be treated as second-class citizens. Feminists don't hate men. We just don't think they're inherently better than us, and, therefore, don't deserve more than us.
The next transgression I have to address is the statement that "women have never been more respected." Well no shit. You know why? FEMINISM. Hundreds of thousands of women have fought, protested, boycotted, begged, bargained, and stole to earn those rights for you, for us. We aren't arguing that we have gained 'respect', we celebrate that. But if you think we're going to give up and go home now that we're a little bit closer to being equal to men, you're dead wrong. We'd be spitting on the graves of our foremothers if we gave up after all the progress we've made. Not to mention, why should we quit when we're still earning 20% less than men when doing the same job at an equal (or better) level?
And my most serious issue with this article, is when you state that feminists oppose chivalry by quoting this article. I don't know if you misunderstood it, or didn't read it, but if you had you'd see that the article is actually completely refuting the idea you're using it to reinforce. You say "feminists claim that this [men offering help or paying for meals] is a sign of disrespect" but the article actually says "Feminists are okay with men opening doors for them, they just want to be treated the same once they get through those doors. They want to make sure they can hold those doors open for themselves if that man wasn't there to hold them open for them." And she's right. It's okay for a guy to pay for a meal on a date or offer to carry my groceries, the problem arises when I feel like picking up the bill and my date says "no, that's a man's job " as if me being a woman makes me incapable of this.
When you go on to mention biological differences between men and women (though I don't love the words you use to say it) you're totally right. Men and women are biologically different, not better and worse. These biological differences are important and to be celebrated, not to be used to justify putting men above women in nearly every societal setting.
Finally, you mention the pay gap. Ah, the bane of a feminist's existence. There I agree with you on nearly everything. You basically give credit to the feminists everywhere who are fighting to close the pay gap. But then you call it "complaining." I'm sorry, but if you hand homeboy over there $50 bucks after a long day of work and then hand me $40 for literally no reason you bet your ASS I'm going to "complain". If I worked just as hard for the same amount of time but you pay me less because you feel like it, I will cut you. This is something you and I will just have to disagree on, I suppose. Perhaps since you are so financially comfortable that you don't miss that 20% of your paycheck, you're also financially comfortable enough to send me some money to help me close that gap a little. A girl's gotta eat.
And here's the kicker: you close by saying "However, I don’t believe that being a female entitles me to put down men and claim to be the “dominant” gender. There is no “dominant” gender. There’s just men and women. Women and men. We coincide with each other, that’s that. Time to embrace it.
Great point, well-stated. I believe that 95% of feminists would agree with you there. Because it's literally what feminism is. Take all the gendered words and switch them. It reads: I don't believe that being a male entitles me to put down women and claim to be the "dominant" gender. HOLY SH*T YOU'RE A FEMINIST.
Welcome to the culture, love.