We all know about Selective Service.

Since Vietnam, boys in America hit their 18th birthday and are now legally allowed to purchase tobacco products, however are also required to register for the draft. It's so common a practice that hardly anyone thinks twice about it anymore — until now.

Recently, legislation has been introduced that would require women to participate in this same system. There's been an outcry from every facet of the social spectrum: those who think women shouldn't be on the front lines, women who personally don't want to serve in the military and among my friends, I've heard various muttering about the feminists.

That single, cohesive monolith of feminism whose only goal is to destroy the American way of life.

Well, I'm a feminist, and I don't believe in this new draft law. And here's why.

Feminism, for me — which I admit, may not be shared by everybody who shares this label with me — is all about choice. Women should be given a choice in what they want to do with their lives. If a woman wants to become CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, more power to her. If a woman wants to become a senator, that's excellent. If a woman wants to stay home and raise children and put apple pie on the windowsill to cool, that's brilliant as well.

And if a woman wants to do all three? Or none of the above? I say go for it. I'm rooting for you, sister. And because my feminism is also about equality, I also believe that men should be given a choice, that same exact choice.

And nobody, man, woman or anybody outside or in between, should be shamed for that choice. That's what feminism means to me. That everyone gets to choose their own path in life, and that nobody can shame them for it based on preconceived notions of what their gender should or shouldn't be participating in.

And that's exactly what Selective Service does. It takes away the power to choose. Maybe we'll never need another draft. Hopefully, we'll never need another draft. But in the event that we did, I like to think that we, as a nation, would rise to the occasion, and that we would bring honor to the uniform. Because it would be something we chose. This situation isn't about gender at all. It's about choice.

So, to be succinct, in the interest of equality: if men have to do it, women should have to do it as well. But in my feminist opinion, no one should have to do it all.

Image Credit: United States Army