No, I don't think that one sex should dominate the other. No, I don't think that everything is a man's fault. And no, I am not a man-hater.

I. Am. An. Intersectional. Feminist.

Someone who believes in the equality of ALL human beings, no matter race, class, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Here we go, another angry feminist trying to force her opinions down my throat." That's not what I am here to do. I just want to clear the air and address some common misconceptions that the opposition has about us feminists because we are not what you say we are.

The other day I was reading some articles and I came across one entitled, "I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists." The article was written two years ago, but was trending due to the recent Women's Marches in New York and Los Angeles.

Upon first glance, I was beside myself.

With every sentence, I found myself more and more angered by the misconstrued ideas that this writer was expressing. Of course, these were her opinions, so I am not saying there were invalid, however, they were a little unsettling. After I calmed down a little bit, I decided to look at some more articles about feminism and I found a few.

I found some that made me feel better like, "To The Women Who Hate Feminism" and "Feminism Isn't A Bad Thing, Stop Treating It Like A Curse Word."

However, I also found more articles that followed the same premise as my original discovery such as, "I'm The Girl Who'd Rather Raise A Family Than A Feminist Protest Sign," "I Am An 18-Year-Old Female And I Will Never Be A Feminist," and "I Proudly Proclaimed My Feminism Until Society Changed The Definition."

Some of these articles made some good points about how we shouldn't be fighting for "better," but for "equality." I mean, yeah.

That's, uh, what feminism is.

After reading all of these articles, it became even more prevalent to me that people had misconstrued ideas of what feminists are standing up and fighting for. First, to the writer who said, "You protest for women's rights and tell the world that women are given fewer rights than a man.

You try to tell me that we live in a "man's world." News flash: We live in the United States of America where, according to the 19th Amendment (adopted in 1920), people of BOTH GENDERS HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS."

Here is what the 19th amendment actually says, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

That means that both men and women have the right to vote, which is one of the greatest rights we have as American citizens, but in no way does that amendment state that across the board ALL have equal rights. Just because women have been given the right to vote does not mean that we are 100% equal, you would think that if we were, people wouldn't be marching.

Second, I want to address this statement: "I am all for being a proud woman and having confidence in what I say and do. I believe in myself as a powerful female and human being. However, I don’t believe that being a female entitles me to put down men and claim to be the 'dominant' gender. There is no 'dominant' gender. There’s just men and women. Women and men. We coincide with each other, that’s that. Time to embrace it."

I agree that there shouldn't be a dominant gender and feminism is in no way about dominance. It is about EQUALITY.

I don't deny the fact that there are extremists and misandrists; those who take the movement to a whole other level making feminism like something it is not, such as statements of dominance, but talk to more feminists.

We shouldn't be categorizing an entire movement based on the actions and opinions of a smaller percentage. Also, it isn't just men and women and women and men anymore. It is about ALL genders.

Third, "First of all, this is the 21st century. Women have never been more respected." A time period shouldn't determine the level of respect a woman receives. Just because we are at a point when women are more statistically respected than before does not mean that the respect is universal and people are actually being respectful.

Feminists are not only fighting for respect in the workplace, but respect in general. When men and women alike stand up and say things that are degrading and damaging to women, that contributes to the disrespect that we are fighting against.

Of course, the women who wrote these articles are free to express their opinions and are free to not be feminists if they don't want to be. I am not trying to convince anyone to be a feminist. All I am trying to do is prove that some of the things presented can be misconstrued and create problems within the feminist community.

I am proud to be the feminist that I am, but I will admit there were times where I have been afraid to say that I was. I own shirts and buttons and stickers that scream "I am a feminist and proud," but sometimes I would think to myself that I didn't want anyone to see them because I didn't want them to think that I was the "man-hating, angry feminist" society was portraying. Some people are scared of using the word feminists to describe themselves because misconceptions like these exist.

To the girl who proclaimed her feminism until society changed the definition, the girl who is a female and is so over feminism, and the girl who would rather raise a family than a feminist protest sign, feminism is not what you think it is. We feminists are not who you say we are. We are rising up and fighting for you and your rights too.

It is not in any way about being better. It never was. The feminist movement is growing stronger each and every day and whether or not you choose to follow it, we will not stand down until we feel that we are treated equally in all respects. We aren't whiners and cry-baby protestors. We are strong, independent, humans, with voices and we want to be heard, so please don't try to silence us.

I encourage you to continue expressing your values and your opinions because you have every right to do so, whether I agree with you or not. This isn't about political parties either. This is about people. Whether you are conservative, liberal, or something in between, we should be fighting together, not tearing each other down.

So, yes, I am an intersectional feminist and I am so proud. I am not trying to be better; I am trying to be equal. All we want, my fellow feminists and I, is change.

"Respect existence or expect resistance."