There have been several occasions where my thoughts and ideas have been written off because I identify as the dirty f word that has swept the female population. Men and women have both laughed at my ideas and said "Oh she's just another feminist".

Well that's right. I am. And proud of it!

For some reason, our world has suddenly equated the word feminist with bra burning, man hating, government shaming, nonsense. Now I could sit here and debunk myths with you all day long about what feminism is and isn't. But there are plenty of wonderful articles that have done a great job doing that. What I would like to address is one myth in particular that continues to harm any chance of feminism continuing to make strides in terms of support and change.

I've had several conversations with individuals from all walks of life that choose to believe that the idea of being a "humanist" or supporting "equalism" is better than being a feminist because it is more inclusive of all genders and addresses all inequalities in our society. In my conversations, I have noticed that the people who choose this term over feminism generally fall into three different categories.

1. They do believe in feminist ideals but don't want to be associated with the stereotypes of being a feminist, or they have a skewed perception of feminism.

2. They believe that there isn't inequality between men and women.

3. They believe that the word 'feminism' puts emphasis on women becoming equal ignoring inequalities men face.

Let me just start by saying that I also believe in everyone having equal rights.

But the need for an individual movement, specific to women, is something that dates back way before any of today's feminists were even born. Women didn't get the right to vote until 1920. That's not even a hundred years ago, to put it in perspective for you. With that in mind, you can imagine how many men were creating laws and social standards, from a governmental position of power, with no consultation or input from women. Here we are, 96 years later, still trying to undo the sexist culture that was set up for us. Thus the feminist movement continues to be necessary in hopes of changing the way women are treated.

One of the first things I always ask people when discussing "humanism/equalism vs feminism" is if they think the gay rights movement means that gay people believe they are better than straight people. The response is often laughter and statements like "That's not the same" etc. But it is. Feminism is a movement geared towards recognizing that women are often the underprivileged sex, and that this needs to change. Not that women deserve more rights than man. Not that women are superior to men. Just that we deserve the same treatment as men. The gay rights movement does not believe that gay people are superior to straight people, but simply acknowledges that there is an unfair difference in how both groups are treated. So why is feminism treated like such a horrible thing?

Another reason that it's hard for me to agree with humanism is that it does a disadvantage to each group it claims to represent. Women deal with different issues than those who experience, racism, heterosexism, classism, able-bodyism, etc. Each group has different problems to face, whether culturally, socially, or politically. To claim that humanism represents all of these groups, fails to recognize what their problems are individually and what needs to be done to fix them. There is no way that you can advocate and solve all of these issues by treating them with umbrella terms. Separate movements are important if we hope to change anything.

I think it is also important to remember that feminism does not mean that women only focus on women's rights. Quite the opposite actually. Feminists recognize that the patriarchy affects men too. Men have so many expectations placed on them and we know this. But I think one of the problems is that it is believed feminism is about making men weak and women strong, giving power to women and taking it away from men. It's not! It's about getting everyone on the same playing field regarding income, societal expectations, and breaking cultural norms. Men shouldn't have to be the breadwinners and it shouldn't be a threat to their manhood when a woman is. This is the kind of thinking feminism hopes to break.

Lastly, to those who simply don't like the name. Don't like the focus on femininity but do agree that women should be equal, I encourage you to remember this: to say that the word 'humanism' is better than feminism, simply because it has 'fem' in it, is to yet again take away women's representation in society.

The exact opposite of what we hope to do.