As the public has become more aware of the injustices that occur in our society and how our daily actions can contribute to a culture that allows them to persist, there has also been a rise in the number of people that make fun of those of us that are “easily offended.”

I believe that it is important to tell someone when something they have unconsciously said or done further disparages marginalized groups because the only way they can change is if they are aware of how their action was unacceptable, but many people take that as someone being overly sensitive.

Typically the people that point out these microaggressions are feminists, and thanks to political commentators like Tomi Lahren, the term “snowflake” has become popularized as a way to insult feminists and anyone else that believes in human rights. A snowflake is supposedly a person who gets offended when they are presented with views that are different from their own, thus they have the fragility of a snowflake.

The entire notion of being a snowflake is ridiculous because feminists are not looking to attack anyone that has different views from them, but rather educate the public about how some of their actions are harmful. However, you cannot expect to be free from scrutiny if you are sexist, racist, etc. by saying that it is simply your opinion and that it must be respected. What you believe to be an “opinion” is actually attacking someone’s identity. It takes having a strong character to be able to stand up to someone that is being discriminatory, which is a strength that is contradictory to the weakness that is associated with a snowflake.

Something that I have noticed is that many comedians now use the idea of being easily offended as a punchline for their jokes. A comedian that I saw recently talked at length about how our country has become too soft and that we can no longer joke about anything because there will always be someone that takes it too seriously.

It is sad that people are so out of touch with the suffering that marginalized groups face every single day that they find no problem with making jokes that, for example, promote stereotypes. It may seem insignificant to a comedian for them to tell an audience a joke that revolves around a stereotype, but those stereotypes influence how we perceive marginalized groups and only causes more discrimination in the future. It does not make someone a snowflake, but instead a decent human being, for believing that it is unacceptable for a comedian to make light of ideas that fuel oppression.

It is telling of our society that people that strive to make equality a reality are insulted by being called a “snowflake,” when at the same time, people like Tomi Lahren and Ann Coulter are praised for being openly discriminatory. However, I am not a snowflake; I am a blizzard. Feminists are a force to be reckoned with and even though you may believe we are delicate, we are powerful, strong, and will change the world for the better.