Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.

I am 100%, by all means, a feminist. I believe strongly more than I do anything else that women deserve the same rights, opportunities, and treatment as men. We are all human beings and nothing should make one gender superior to the other. To any woman who decides to tear me down for this article, you're a hypocrite, because feminism fights for the freedom for women to express their thoughts, no matter if you agree or not.

I do not support what feminism has largely become. It has steered away from the original values into some extremist cult-like belief system. Feminism in 2018 has lost touch with the feminism that got all of us women to the point where we are allowed to live as freely as we do. Seems to me that these modern "feminists" have taken that for granted.

We don't need modern extreme feminism. What we need is true, grassroots feminism. The extreme feminism we have today seems to consist of women who are constantly putting down men and downright hating them. You can express your anger towards the bad men in this world in a way better way than you are doing right now.

Literally, I have even seen online posts from a few of these so-called "feminists" about how women should start aborting male fetuses to fight the Patriarchy…WHAT THE ACTUAL F^%K??? What kind of sick person even thinks this way?? You're no feminist honey, you're a sick, deranged psychopath. Aside from that, I have seen posts exclaiming how women are superior, women should have more leeway, women should have excuses etc. Hypocritical, isn't this?

Women, as the definition of feminism explains, deserve equal rights as men; no special treatment, no superiority, no shortcuts. Why should my gender give me any leverage? I believe that if we truly worked to promote feminism for what it actually is, we would've achieved it decades ago. Honestly, I feel modern day feminism is becoming an excuse for these extremists-let me repeat, extremists- to say and do outlandish things. Now yes, I believe women need to fight hard for equal treatment right now more than ever. We need to be heard and if that means protesting then, by all means, protest! But don't do so in ways that bring embarrassment to the Women's Movement as a whole: throwing bloody tampons in the air, running around naked, screaming "down with the Patriarchy."

There are so many better ways to get our point across.

A lot of these feminist extremists also deem non-liberal politicians as evil, and they refuse to see the other side of social and political arguments. I'm no conservative by any means, but I will say that this new wave of feminism has crossed the line and has spun the liberal agenda out of control. How can you be so closed minded as to not even hear what the other side has to say? Just watch The View to see what I mean. It's a totally pathetic and childish show. The ONE Republican on the show constantly gets verbally berated by her liberal cohosts and as soon as she so much as says "boo" to them, it's all over.

Why is this extremist logic permitting it okay to basically worship female politicians so long as they're promoting the liberal agenda, excusing anything and everything they do, but then completely tear to shreds a woman who happens to be Republican and/or Conservative for simply existing? Did I miss something? Why is there a double standard? Why is this wave of feminism seemingly exclusive to primarily Democratic, liberal women? So we just aren't going to account for the Republican/Conservative women?

A local Maine politician (who I will not name) who has been very involved with my college, is someone who I consider to be ignorantly extreme. She visited with a group of students during a school trip to D.C. to discuss women in politics. Great! We should be talking about women in politics! However, one of my friends who went on that trip told me later that she was only talking about furthering Democratic women in politics, not any other women. I went to a seminar she was hosting on my campus a few weeks later to hear this for myself, and sure enough, she was saying exactly what my friend had claimed she said.

Um, if you are fighting for more women in D.C., fight for all women. I am an Independent, and I am very bipartisan. Wouldn't you think it's more beneficial to have women in office with diverse political ideologies? At the end of the day, aren't we all women? Or do Republican/Conservative women don't count? Just thought, ma'am.

The feminism I believe in is the feminism fought so tirelessly for by women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Susan B. Anthony. These women fought for things that matter, like the right to vote, the right to own property, bodily autonomy, etc., and none of them behaved in the disgraceful, animalistic way these whiny, modern day "feminists" are exhibiting. These women basically put their lives on the line almost 100 years ago so that us women today can go out and vote and live independently. This is what I consider feminism. Not this out of hand hate-driven speech, hatred of men, hatred of issues that they clearly did no research about beforehand. It's an insult to what feminism started out as.

Now, all we see is constant over-victimization of women while using the term feminism to hide behind. Women tell me that I should be angry, I should be mad if a man interrupts me, I should be made that I allegedly get paid less. First, if a man interrupts me I don't see it as misogyny, it means I was just talking when he was talking or that he had something to say, totally unrelated to my gender. The same would apply if a woman interrupts me. I see no difference here.

In regards to the wage gap, it doesn't mean that a woman gets paid less than a man for doing the exact same job. It's an overall comparison of male vs female salaries. More women still go for jobs that pay less (teaching, social work, daycare) while more men still go for jobs that pay more (engineering, scientists, doctors). If we really wanted to close the "wage gap," we would encourage girls more than we currently are to apply for these high-paying jobs.

I am not a victim. I don't feel like I personally need these "women-only" support events to "encourage and guide me to surpass my sinister male peers." I can, and have, achieved my goals on my own without having to be reminded that I am a woman or that life's "harder" for me. While I appreciate the support and advice these women's forums have given me and I've been to my fair share of them- I have always felt that they were more demeaning than progressive.

Why should I have to have any special help, guidance or acclamation because of my gender? Why am I told at these events that as a woman, I have to seek 10x more assistance in my career path than men? What these female-only events should be doing is focusing on the quality of the work women are doing, and not so much on their gender as the sole thing to move them up in the working world.

Now, I want to clarify that yes I am a feminist. However, I also believe that men are my amazing equals and supporters-the good men anyway. I believe that the Republican Party is equally as truthful as the Democratic Party. I see no problem with women choosing to be stay-at-home moms while also believing that we need more women in power. I believe that men can be victims of sexual assault just as much as women, and I believe that true equality stems from both genders working together, not against each other.

I don't identify as a feminist in 2018 terms and I honestly don't care, because feminism to me means creating an equal playing field for both genders, not tearing down those who disagree with my beliefs, not treating men like my enemy, not being hypocritically closed-minded.

If I have offended anyone, I apologize, but as a woman in this era of women speaking their minds, I should be able to speak my mind, too. Are you going to turn your back on me now and go against feminism because I disagree with you?