I know what you're thinking. The majority of readers on this website are college aged and have been swearing since middle school. You're probably asking yourself, "Why would someone write an article on the f-word?" Well to answer your question, that is not what my article is about. The f-word that I want to talk about is feminism. Feminism over the last few years has faced countless amounts of backlash that I feel as though I should address in order to try to debunk all of the negative myths and rumors that go along with the word.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the simple definition of feminism is "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities." Contrary to popular belief, we do not want to be the superior sex and we most definitely do not hate men. All we want is equality and honestly, I really don't think that is much to ask for. I consider myself an intersectional feminist, which means that I fight for people of all colors, races, religions, sexualities, disabilities and other groups of people who face oppression on a daily basis. Many people do not understand this term and how it works, and I believe that is a large reason why people view feminism as being a bad thing and only caring about white women.
Like every movement, there are extremist that give feminism a horrible reputation. These radicals often claim feminism to be "man-hating" and blame all of the oppression they face on males. They also focus on only women's issues, and more often than not, white women's issues only. Calling out other women for showing off their bodies and having confidence is not feminism, lying about abuse/assault is not feminism, disregarding men's issues is not feminism, objectifying men is not feminism. The list could go on and on about the difference between true and fake feminism, but all that one needs to think about is equality, that is the bottom line. It follows along with the golden rule, treat others that way you would like to be treated. It is extremely upsetting to true feminists because the negativity of people that claim to be feminists reflects directly on us and makes it more difficult for us to get our point across.
Many people are not aware that feminism benefits men also. Thanks to feminists, it wasn't until 2012 that the FBI had finally changed the definition of rape to include men. This also includes men in the military who have been survivors of sexual assault to be able to come out with their story and seek justice. In addition, feminism has helped take the weight of war off of mens' shoulders by allowing women to be on the front line. Furthermore, there has always been a stigma that men should be big and tough and never show their emotions. This can be extremely harmful to men because it forbids them to be themselves and when they are, they are thought of as weak and "girl-like". We as feminists want to fight to end this fictional belief and show that we want equality and justice for everyone.
The purpose of me writing this is not to try to persuade everyone to immediately become a feminist. I know that some people are set in stone in their mindsets and refuse to change no matter what they hear. I do however hope that you learned a few new things that you take into consideration when you hear the word feminism. People need to realize that it is not a bad word and you should most definitely never be ashamed to call yourself one. All that we want is to help everyone get the equality they deserve in every aspect of life. We know that it will not be easy to do, but we accept that challenge because we know all the good that we can do for this world.
