Believe it or not, feminists are not blood-thirsty, man-hating, violent individuals. I know, crazy right? Don't feminists hate men? Isn't that the whole point?

Sorry, wrong.

There are huge, substantial differences between those who identify as a feminist and those who lean more toward the anti-feminist side. I say anti-feminist because their ideals and beliefs are not identical to an actual feminist's, and it often makes us look very offensive and hateful. By definition, a feminist is someone who supports the idea of equal pay wages, breaking the glass ceiling, and ultimately just seeing more equality for all genders. That includes male, female, transgender, nonbinary.

It is very important to understand that if you are a feminist, you support everyone and their struggles. Males can be victims of rape and domestic abuse, women can be abusive, males can cry, transgender individuals should be allowed to use the restroom they identify with, and many other situations that every gender faces daily. A common misconception among those who do not associate with feminism is that we, for some reason, hate men and think women are more important as a whole. This is extremely untrue, and where it starts to get offensive. Feminism was started as a positive movement, and was centered around, as previously stated, equality within all genders.

There are people out there that truly believe feminism is about "destroying" the male race and call men "trash." Those people are misguided about the definition of a feminist, and truly give us a bad name.

Our intentions as feminists are to create peace and equality. We want to see change, and teach our daughters how to be stronger as they grow. One day, we want to see a female president and equal pay in job positions. We do not hate men, in fact, many feminists are male.

It is important in this day and age to be peaceful and use your words when you converse with those who do not agree with your opinions. Ask questions, do research, and know what you're talking about.