It is quite impossible to do anything in this world these days without it becoming political.

Nevertheless, we cannot let that stop us from using our voices to enact change, and I believe it is time to use my voice to speak on issue that I have wanted to discuss since I joined this wonderful organization.

I recently read an article by Gina Davis from Odyssey’s University of Florida community, and in it, she discusses what it is like to be a female that is against feminism. I encourage you to read the article yourself first rather than blindly trusting what I write, but at its core, it appears as though Gina believes that feminism is about the domination of the female gender over the male gender.

I am a feminist. I have been for years now, but it is not a term I throw around lightly - I do not walk up to every single person I know and let them know that I am a feminist. Instead, I let my actions speak for my title - both in the way that I treat the women I encounter in my life with utmost respect, and in my advocation for women at every chance that is presented before me.

"If you're feeling me, put your five high! That's my girl..."

As a feminist, I can tell you that feminism is not about hating men. It saddens me that this has become the general perception of the feminist movement as a whole, for the extreme feminists (the ones people disrespectfully like to refer to as “feminazis”), a few bad apples on a branch, have made the entire tree appear rotten. A sad pattern that is repeated throughout history, this often seems to be the case with movements fighting for social justice.

What is feminism truly about, then? At its core, feminism is about equality. Feminists are fighting for a world in which women of all colors, religions, social classes, age, etc. can grow up feeling safe and empowered to pursue whatever fuels their ambition. Feminists are women and men.

Many women in the United States do not feel a need for feminism because, as Americans, we have a privilege that many countries do not: that privilege is freedom. But feminism is not just for the women in America; it’s for the women all over the world that haven’t lived the same lives as those here. Feminism is for the women in the Middle East that are persecuted for being independent, for the women in India that are forced into marriage before they have even matured, for the women in too many other parts of the world where they are treated as less than human because they were not born a male.

And, believe it or not, we do need to make progressive changes for the betterment of women in our very nation. Women do not yet have equal pay in all career fields across the nation, and sexual assault (of men too!) is still not treated as severely as it needs to be, both in culture and in court. Just because it doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist - it doesn’t mean it’s not causing another woman pain every day when she wakes up.

So, no… feminism is not about hating men, and I am truly sorry if that is the stance you maintain when you look at feminists and all they are trying to do, and all they have done!!! Feminists were the very ones that won women the right to vote in America, that fought for the abolition of slavery, that have pushed for change time and time again in this nation’s great history.

So, ladies (and gents!) all across the world: listen up! We’re looking for recruits; let me see your hands, stand up and SALUTE! Feminism brings us just one step closer to bringing our world the equality it deserves, the equality I dream of every night when I go to sleep that, sadly, just still doesn’t exist when I wake up the next day.

Let us fight for women all over the world. Let us fight for a better world.