Let's be real. Feminism in today's society has gotten a bit out of hand. Are the ideas behind feminism to blame? To truly see why feminism has gotten such a bad reputation, you must look beyond the belief and look to the people promoting it.

The entire purpose behind feminism is not to say that women are better than men, although that may seem like the impression most people get from its name. Feminism is based on the idea that men and women should be treated equally, a thought we should have been able to accept in the 1900s, especially kicking off the idea of equality with the right to vote being passed in 1919. We would have thought for sure, by now, women would be receiving the treatment they deserve.

A whole new story comes with the idea of meninism, a term that these boys have created to essentially say that men are better than women. Not only are these "men" claiming that they are superior but they are insulting our rights as newly privileged women, rights that should have been self-evident by now. These men mock feminism and make the story all about themselves, proving that women's request for equality is unimportant. But, do these men have a reason behind claiming to be the victims here?

In all reality, men should never have a good reason to feel superior to women. There is no reason that women cannot do certain tasks that men can. Of course, I do acknowledge the physical differences between men and women, meaning that there are some things that men would be naturally better at, but that does not mean that there are not things that women naturally excel at. Women are not asking to receive special treatment, only to be treated in the same way as men in aspects of life involving obtaining power of any kind. Women are mentally capable of accomplishing the same tasks as men and should never be treated like they are weak and incompetent.

However, no matter the time period, there will always be radicals that take the fundamental beliefs way past the point feminism was meant to be expressed. These frauds believe that feminism to the core means women are better than men in every way. They promote feminism as something completely different than what it is in actuality. I believe that in this case of feminism radicals, they have ruined the whole fight for feminism for women throughout the world. Not only did these radicals lose the respect for the idea behind feminism, they set an example, making it unattainable to even achieve our goal of equality. Radicals like this put a face on feminism; a face that makes it hard for people to understand the truth behind feminism.

Ultimately, many people may think they have never or will never encounter someone with such beliefs, but radicals are more common than you think. Feminism has been given a bad name and needs to be given a second chance to redeem itself. Do you think that feminism should be taken more seriously today?