Dear you,

Hey. I hear you’re against feminism, and you’re not the only one; I recently discovered this article in which the author shares your views. But please, bear with me for a little while.

First argument: Women have more rights in the United States than anywhere else in the world.

Is there truth to that statement? Absolutely. However, I’m wondering why you’re only talking about feminism as if it exists solely in the U.S. True feminists focus their efforts on a much larger scale, including countries where marital rape is legal and genital mutilation is still actually happening. These are things that feminists are talking about, and the fact that the author of this article boils feminism down to “women being mad they aren’t playing football on ESPN” is just inaccurate and irresponsible.

But for argument’s sake, let’s talk about just the United States. It’s true that women here have a substantial amount of freedom and rights. But that’s not saying much. In the United States, we're ranked 97th in terms of the amount of women in national parliament, meaning that we have fewer women enacting legislation than countries such as Kenya and Pakistan. The United States is also the only high-income, developed country that does not guarantee paid maternity leave to new mothers. In fact, we do not have paid leave for either parent.

That leads me to my next point, and to the author of that article’s other argument: that feminism entails disrespecting or even hating men.

This is a huge misconception. Women fighting for their rights does not require tearing down men. The people who hate men are misandrists, not feminists, so let’s get that straight.

Feminism means equality of the sexes. That’s it. So that means that feminism also benefits men. To the point that we're “offended” by men paying for our meals or fixing our flat tires, that’s just plain wrong. Feminism wants men to not be obligated to do those things; we’re just saying that women can do those things too. I will not be offended by my boyfriend wanting to pay for my meal; however, I won’t expect him to pay for my meal. Some days, I’ll pay for his. See what I’m getting at here?

The notion that feminism only benefits women is just untrue. Feminists want to get new fathers paid paternity leave too; feminists want to get rid of the stigma of men not being considered “manly” if they aren’t muscular; feminists want men to be able to express feelings without people ridiculing them; feminists want to end the stigma against male rape victims.

So, I’m wondering how you could be against feminism, a movement that has done nothing but benefits you. Will I lie and say that there aren’t people that take it to the extreme? Of course, there are, but every movement has its extremists. They do not represent what feminism really is.

Lastly, feminism is supposed to be inclusive. This means the inclusion of issues across all spectrums: race, economic status, sexuality, you name it. And the thought that anyone would be against these issues is baffling, in my opinion.

So, you can make up your own mind about feminism. I just hope that you get it now.

Sincerely,

A Feminist