Whenever I tell my peers that I am a feminist I get the hairy eyeball. I get that look like “Oh you’re one of those”. But let me be the first to say I myself didn’t quite understand feminism until I did some research. I was the type of girl to be like, ew, I could never be a feminist I like shaving my armpits and I don’t hate all men. Oh, could I be more wrong? Feminism literally is the belief that women and men are equal. So any girl out there who doesn’t believe in feminism I ask you why. Us girls would not have the rights and roles in a society like we do now if it weren’t for the great women before us who fought for our gender equality. Social media has done a good job of creating a negative stigma about what a feminist is, of course, the media only presents its’ viewers with the most extreme feminists with overly radical ideas. So it’s time to clear the air and set all the misconceptions straight.

1. Yes, feminists do shave their armpits. Recently the hashtags #armpithair and #pithairdontcare have been circulating the internet and Instagram feeds everywhere. At first, I was a tad disgusted by the idea of not shaving and allowing the pit hair to look like a small bush. Then it dawned on me, there is no reason to be disgusted in not shaving. Men don’t so why should we? Having hair is a natural occurrence in both sexes. However, society has trained women that having those silky smooth legs and hairless pits is attractive and what women are supposed to do. But newsflash nobody should even care what you do or don’t do to your body. Also, if you don't like it don't look at it.
2. Feminists do not hate me! Seriously, nowhere in the definition of feminism does it mention we dislike men or think they are the devil spawns of the earth. I am currently in a long relationship, and I also am a firm believer in feminism, wow shocking for some of you I’m sure. Although some extreme feminists may seem like they resent guys, they probably have their own personal issues as to why they feel that way. At the same time though you can’t generalize a whole population just because some people have a different perception and way of exemplifying the movement. Social media typically only highlights the radical feminists because who wants to hear calm quite collected opinions? But not all feminists are like the ones you see on Twitter who are ranting about how much men are terrible etc.
3. Along with not hating men we also don’t think we are better than men. Our message isn’t girls rule and boys drool but our message is we want to be equal to our male counterparts. We don’t think we should get special rights or we are above anyone. Our goal isn’t to punish men either or make them pay, they themselves also have their own set of gender role expectations society has set out for them.
4. Some people sadly have the mindset that women are equal in America so why even have feminism? Because women have progressed so much, there’s no point of the movement. Well sorry to say things are clearly not equal in not only America but around the world. Things have improved yes, but women are nowhere close to having the same living standards as men. Every day women are abused by their husbands, are scared to walk the streets alone because someone may kidnap or rape them, and have FGM (female genital mutilation) practiced on them. Along with that, we should be teaching boys to not rape vs teaching girls what they shouldn’t be doing so they won’t get raped. No female should have to dress or act a certain way in order to avoid being raped. There is no justifiable amount of alcohol that makes it OK to rape. I repeat. There is not a justifiable amount of alcohol to justify rape. Rape culture is a growing force spreading throughout America every day. I recently saw a post that said: “Girls are buying pepper spray for college whereas guys are buying condoms.” That in itself is a huge issue. Those are only a few reasons as to why we need feminism.
5. Feminists are gay, pro-choice, middle-class liberals. False. You can be any race, gender or sexuality to believe in equality. There is no rule stating you must be this in order to qualify as a feminist.