Currently, there are so many opinions on what feminism is and what the context of a feminist's actions really are. In the past, even my family has been guilty of making the assumption that feminism and being irrational go hand in hand.

I didn't declare myself a feminist until I got into college. Upon arriving at this time in my life, I was exposed to the actual efforts that the movement has undergone and is currently going through in order to promote gender equality among all genders. Not just within the female demographic, but as well as the transgender community.

Feminism sadly has been stamped with a seal of disapproval as a result of misunderstandings and false representations. We have gained the term feminazi's, which not only desensitizes us to a tragic event in history but creates assumptions that the feminist movement is as illogical as a mass genocide.

I, as a feminist, do not burn bras, hate men, or protest the use of feminine hygiene. Even though these protests were more acts to show that women and other gender identities have the right to choose what they do with their bodies rather than allowing the mass of societal social norms to depict how they make decisions.

For me being a feminist I have to be self-aware of what I say, though. Just in case, someone with the false understanding of what feminism actually means gets offended. It seems that I have to be extra careful to protect my identity of who I am. As if being a feminist is a bad thing. I feel myself biting my tongue when wanting to advocate for gender equality across the board because I have a family that has similar ideals as me, but not the same. It's a challenge when having to face the judgment from those who are closest to you and play a large role in influencing your life.

How can standing up for what you believe in and supporting the equality of a large mass be a negative concept? It's important to spread the proper knowledge of what it actually means to be a feminist and what the movement is trying to accomplish, which is allowing all gender identities to be themselves in a society with equal opportunities and no discrimination just based on their gender. Gender is separate from sex. Your sexual anatomy is in a different category.

Gender is the identity of sexual preference. Sex is the organs that you are born with. With the gift of Western medicine advancing, we are now able to alter the organs to better fit the emotional needs of the gender preference. Gender and sex are to separate categories because the meanings behind them go past physical understandings to a psychological stand point. The difference between the two are very similar and easy to mix up, but they are not lucid.

I wish that the feminist movements negative comments was that backwards response to the erroneous interpretation of the movement.

I have been given stereotypical responses when I tell people that I can't hang out because I have a meeting regarding feminism. Instantly I have to defend myself. Explaining that it's not what they think, but in reality, it probably is. On the outside, this movement can seem extreme and harsh. That's what you get when you have a lot of opinions fighting to make a difference.

I hope we can all adapt to the understanding that feminism is a good thing that benefits all genders.