In lieu of the recent Women's Marches, I saw a few articles from women who wanted to dissociate themselves from the Feminist movement; this one particularly. In these articles, women are essentially saying that they don't consider themselves feminists because they want to take a more traditional role in their households (being a homemaker for their husband, raising children, etc.). Let me make one thing clear:
You can be a feminist and also want to be submissive to men.
If that's the way you want to live your life, then live it that way. Feminists SUPPORT your choice to be whatever kind of woman you want to be. That's all that feminism is: support for women.
I know that it can get a little foggy what the real definition of Feminism is. Some hold different beliefs than others, but here is a quote from an article that might be able to make things a little more clear:
"Feminists do not believe women are better than men, or that women deserve special privileges. They do not believe women are victims. In order to be considered a feminist, you only need to be on board with one idea: All humans, male and female, should have equal political, economic and social rights."
That's it, guys. If you believe in all humans having equal rights, then you're a feminist. Boom.
People keep trying to say that feminism used to be about equality but has since evolved into something different, but that's not the case. Third-wave feminism is simply about equality for ALL women, whereas second-wave feminism that occurred in the 60s-80s focused primarily on the rights of straight, cisgender, white women.
In many places in this world, and even here in the United States, women are still being mistreated because of their gender. The above article touches on some of the problems experienced by women around the world today. It hurts my heart, as it should yours. That's what the women in D.C. and all over the country are marching for. They're marching for the women who have been sexually assaulted. They're marching for the women who have to work twice as hard and still get paid less than a man with the same job. They're marching for the women who still don't have it as good as a lot of us do. They're marching for equality.
So you can count yourself out of the movement and out of the protests, but the bottom line is that if you believe that women are strong and should be able to do anything they want to do, then you're a feminist. And you should be. Because if women don't even support each other, then who will?