I am so tired of hearing people, specifically, other women, classify feminists as crazy, man-hating, and emotional individuals trying to shove ideas down everyone's throats. First of all, we are not man-hating. It's 2018, but we still live in such a patriarchal society that women stepping up to a man's "level" is seen as threatening and women calling out what's wrong with this patriarchal society is seen as man-hating.

Secondly, we are not crazy. I wasn't aware that wanting to be socially and economically equal to men was such a "crazy" idea, anyway. Yes, we protest in vagina costumes and call out the sexist bullshit happening within society, but I wouldn't classify that as crazy. I prefer the term persistent.

Also, to all you ladies claiming to have feminist ideas shoved down your throat, if ideas weren't shoved down throats in the past, women wouldn't have voting rights. Women wouldn't be able to work. Women wouldn't be able to get abortions. Because of "crazy" women in the past, we have the rights we deserve within this society. If you think about it, the same women now who refuse to accept modern feminism and call modern feminists unreasonable, crazy, annoying...feminists in the past who fought for basic rights were called the SAME THING.

I understand that some so-called feminists may stray from the true idea of feminism. They may make it about the superiority of women and bash women who don't match their ideals. The main idea of this movement is CHOICE. The choice to work, the choice to be a housewife, the choice to wear the hijab, choice to marry, the choice to have children. If a woman truly wants to make whatever decision for herself and her life, no man nor woman has the right to stop her.

However, women cannot keep bashing women who want to keep fighting for that right to choose. We are each other's greatest support. We need to stop trying to stop progression. Men and women still do not have equal pay. It is 2018. Women still have to work thrice as hard as men to make even close to their salary. In some states, it is still extremely difficult to get an abortion. Why though?

As I mentioned before, one of the main aspects of feminism is the right to choose. Men have the right to choose in most aspects of their life. So should women. Whether you're pro-life or pro-choice, you do not have any right to force a woman to carry for nine months and take away her choice to abort. That is her body — her CHOICE.

Yes, feminists dress in vagina costumes to protest. That might seem crazy to some women, but to me, that's awesome. Do vagina costumes make you feel uncomfortable? That's how women feel when they are pressured to keep their baby. That's how women feel when men stalk them, abuse them, rape them. That's how most women feel on a regular basis. There are many other things about this world that should make you feel uncomfortable, stop getting hung up on feminists who are fighting for women as a WHOLE.

I know it may seem easy to say that women already have so many rights in America compared to Saudi Arabia and other countries where women have zero rights. But wait, just because women in other countries are treated like crap, American women should just stay in one place? Just because you as an American woman have supportive men in your life, grew up in a safe neighborhood, never had to deal with sexism in your career or social life does NOT mean other American women have the same privileges.

Feminism fights for ALL women.

Feminism fights for those who never had a day in their life where they weren't insulted or bashed for being a woman. Feminism fights for future generations so they grow up in a country where they don't have to be ashamed of their bodies, live up to social beauty standards, and where they have a CHOICE as a woman.

I know it seems hard to accept change. When women got voting rights in 1919, there were women who claimed those activists were crazy. The women who bashed the activists were fine the way they were. They were okay with only men having a say in the laws in a country they all lived in. Those "crazy" activists spent nights in jail because they knew they had to fight to receive the rights they deserve in this country.

So, to the women who continue to trash feminists, I think you need to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. The decisions you make when you vote, your tweets about crazy feminists, your articles bashing protesters, you represent women as a WHOLE. Minority women, trans women, all types of women. We are one. Once you realize that, you will also realize how much feminism is truly needed in this country. The fight will always go on.