So lately it feels as though feminism is a topic at the forefront of most people's news feeds today. Every time I go on Facebook it seems as though one out of every 10 or some odd articles are related to some feminist issue. Yet why is it that out of all these articles being written, it seems as though the message is still not being received by our male counterparts? Does it have anything to do with the apparent fear and annoyance that many men today seem to have with the topic of feminism? I have definitely seen a fair share of male responses to such arguments that definitely reflect ignorant and oppressive view points. Who knew in 2016 there would still be such high levels of repressed fear towards equality and human rights?

Well unfortunately, it seems as though the reason there is still so much ignorance, and fear driven from that ignorance, all comes down to two things: a lack of education about why it is so important to treat females with equal respect, and a constant, sometimes covert, oppression towards all females who are just trying to live the same way men do.

I guess we have Gloria Steinem to thank for spearheading a revolution of women willing to fight back and stand up for themselves and what we deserve. Sadly though, this revolution has been going on for decades now. You would think that in a society so progressive where gays can legally marry and we can have an African American president, that women would finally be able to be seen as complete equals. It's truly mind-blowing how so many people are supporters of gay marriage, and racial equality, and women healthcare like birth control and abortions, but yet the women getting that healthcare, whether gay, a racial minority, young, old, curvy, skinny, athletic, disabled, smart, dumb, blind, deaf, you name it - those women are still seen as less by so many people, many of whom are those same "supporters."

So here I am, adding to this manifesto. One out of a million fed up women who just want something that we should have earned the second we were born: equality. But listen to my focus.

Try to contain your gasps as you read. I know what I am about to say might be shocking to some of you, but hear me out here. I understand reasons for having the wage gap, I understand fully that in an individualistic society we are going to praise those who choose to find fulfillment solely by throwing themselves into their work and climbing to the top of the corporate ladder (although we women are blockaded by the oh so lovely glass ceiling). I don't agree with it, not any part of it, but that doesn't mean that my college education doesn't help me understand it. Believe it or not, we women are actually 100 percent capable of understanding things we may not see eye to eye with. I also understand the glass ceiling -- hate every bit of it. I think it's a huge reason why we are so behind in healthcare issues compared to the rest of the world, and I also think it's part of the huge reason we have far fewer women leaders than most countries that we view as "less" than us. If you ask me, it sounds like the rest of the world, countries that the U.S. has spent years working with trying to aid their human rights policies, have gotten their sh*t together a lot quicker than we have. That's just straight up hypocritical, and completely embarrassing.

So while the issues mentioned above are all very important, and on an equal playing field with the rest of the feminist issues, my issue here is rape culture. Ah, yes, another scary phrase that we'd all just love to brush under the rug and pretend it didn't exist so that none of us needed to talk about it. Well, sorry, but you should stop scrolling if you're that afraid of getting an education on something that will not only change our society, but could change the world.

Let me start to put this issue into perspective for you by summarizing a little story. There was a time in my life where I was sort of seeing this boy. We weren't dating, at least not yet, but he was someone I had my eye on for a while and the opportunity eventually presented itself. Before I knew it, the guy I thought I knew turned into a controlling, oppressive, argumentative, belittling, (for lack of better term) total a-hole. In my mind we had an agreement that we were just casually hanging out, hooking up at parties here and there, and nothing needed to be crazy. The guy never even took me on a real date, so how was I supposed to think anything serious of it? All of a sudden a few weeks in, I started receiving texts like "who the f*** is that guy on your Snapchat story?" and "Why don't you want to hang out with me later?", "What are you doing that's keeping you so busy from seeing me?" "I thought you liked me, you should want to see me," etc. While some of these may not seem wrong, it's the connotation behind the statements and how they came out of nowhere that that made them so powerful. I think the scariest of them all was when "I came to this party just to see you, so now you owe me" popped up on my phone.

For anyone not as in-tune as to why this statement can strike fear into any female on the receiving end, I have one simple answer: rape culture. The idea that all because I am a female, I OWED HIM. The unfortunate luck of the fastest sperm having to have been one with an X chromosome, ultimately making me a girl, is all to blame for why I now owe him (in case you were wondering, I never asked him to attend, and so what if I did? and yes he meant I owed him in sexual favors, in case that wasn't obvious). The misogynistic train of thought that so many men seem to still possess make situations like this actually very common. This was not the last time this phrase, and phrases like it, left this guy's mouth, or entered my phone via text. My mistake for not ending things with this guy sooner, but that does not in any way make his actions OK. News flash, just because I am a female, does not mean I am obligated to you in any way.

I still walk around campus and hear jokes about women belonging in the kitchen, or people saying, "Oh, you bought her that expensive gift? You should definitely get laid!" I'm sorry, but if I'm in the kitchen, it's usually because I'm hungry or eating my feelings, or both, and if you should be so lucky that I make you something as well, you should probably put a ring on it, because that's the only way you'll get that out of me again. Oh, and buying us expensive gifts? Last time I checked, accepting any form of payment for sex or sexual acts was still considered prostitution. So no, we don't have to spread our legs for you, sorry to kill that oh so romantic mood of misogyny. In case it wasn't already obvious, I was not born just to please every single man I'd ever meet in my life. Actually, I, much like most other females, was born because my parents really wanted a child.

In today's day and age our society teaches women from the time they are little girls that THEY are the ones responsible for being mistreated by men. School dress codes tell girls that their shoulder blades and collarbones are the reasons why young hormonal pubescent boys can't control themselves. When's the last time you've ever been envious of another girl's collarbone? Never, because there is nothing sexy about the clavicle bone - there, I said it. Further, we hear time and time again whenever a story of a woman being sexually assaulted is on the news - all of the insensitive remarks along the lines of, "Look at how she was dressed -- she was asking for it!" Or, "Well, she was a slut anyway, so it was bound to happen." And that is what sadly makes it okay for young men today to continue to speak the way they do about women. And sooner or later those young men turn into fathers. Let's just hope they realize that they want their daughters to be treated better than how they treated girls.

If those statements were even close to being true, we could easily say the same things about murder victims. "Oh, well he was asking for it because he was standing in the line of fire" or, "Did you see what he was wearing? He was asking to get shot." The absurdity should carry over better now. So how could anyone ever make the same kind of statements about a women who was raped?

Telling girls at the age of 12 that they need to cover up body parts as prude as a shoulder is making it OK for women to feel like they have to live their lives to please men. Last time I checked I don't wear $28 dollar mascara for any boy, let alone one who will have no problem making me cry. I also didn't spend over $50 on an eye shadow palette for a boy who can't even tell the difference between the shades of nude. I most certainly don't buy leggings for boys to stare at my butt -- I buy them because jeans are actually incredibly uncomfortable and leggings make me feel good and are incredibly fashionable. The thing is, actions like oppressive school dress codes, remarks blaming victims of sexual assault, and jokes about women belonging in the kitchen, all perpetuate the idea of the submission of women, which ultimately trickles down to perpetuating the idea that viewing a woman as nothing more than a sexual object is OK. Whether the person who made the comments meant them as a joke or not, not every person who says they're joking is, and therefore will take your speaking of the topic similarly as support to their views. Not every guy out there means it when they joke like that, and I'm not here telling you that you can't have a sense of humor, but next time just think about it a little deeper.

The thing is, men just don't understand what women go through by simply being women. They don't understand that making such ignorant and offensive statements adds to the harm and disservice that's already being done to women. A lot of this ignorance comes from them not having to live the way we do. How can you understand something you don't know? Keep reading and maybe you'll educate yourself a little more.

Men don't know what it's like to walk down a busy city street and feel ten pairs of eyes staring at you up and down as you walk by.

Men don't know what it's like to be catcalled from men old enough to be your father.

Men don't know what it's like to be at work and have male customers offer to buy you a drink, and then take you back to their place (even after finding out you're a minor).

Men don't know what it's like to feel the slightest bit scared walking to your car in a parking lot late at night because the man who just walked past you could easily overpower you at any moment.

Men don't know what it's like to be called a slut or a whore whenever we do something a little provocative.

Men don't know what it's like to be called a b**** just because you have a cause worth fighting for, especially if that cause is yourself.

Men don't know what it's like to be at a party with a guy who gets too hands-y and not know what to do or how to walk away.

Men don't know what it's like to go to a bar and have to keep an eye on your drink because someone may try to slip something into it.

Men don't know what it's like to be told that your collarbone is the reason a boy can't focus in math class.

Men don't know what it's like to be told that getting pregnant and starting the family you have always dreamed of having is the reason you can't move up in the workforce.

Men don't know what it's like to be criticized on a daily basis because either we aren't pretty enough for men to like us, or we are so pretty that it's our own fault men will try to assault us.

Men don't know what it's like to be held to an unrealistic standard of what society "needs" you to be if you want to make it in the world.

Men don't know what it's like to be objectified from the moment we hit puberty, before we are even old enough to understand what that means.

Men don't know what it's like to have the friend you thought you knew try to take advantage of you once you have a little alcohol in your system.

Men don't know what it's like to have more people make eye contact with your chest than your eyes, regardless of how revealing your shirt is.

Men don't know what it's like to feel like you can only do half as much with your abilities, all because of your gender.

Men don't know what it's like to be oppressed.

I'm not saying there aren't good men out there - there are. However, I think it's clear that men as a whole don't see the problem. Instead some of the more observant males decided to hide their guilt by making it a "female problem caused by females." Well, guess what - I see through that. And maybe now so will more people. That's all I can hope for. After all, those females that you think bring it upon themselves? We are the reason you males are brought into this world. We give you life for what? So you can make ours so incredibly hard to live freely? We give you life so that we can spend ours in eternal submission? No. We give you life so that hopefully, one of you with half a heart will realize how incredibly necessary this issue is, and that maybe, just maybe, you'll care enough to help us make a change.

So next time you hear the word "feminism," don't just laugh it off or stop listening. Listen more, and actually educate yourself. Pretend that person was your mother, or your grandmother, or your sister. Pretend that you were the only one who could make a difference in how they were treated by other men. And be the first man to stand up and actually act like one.

Feminism is not a phase, or a fad. It's in every way a movement for human rights - equal rights. So that one day girls won't have to walk the street and fear that because they looked at someone a little too long, or the length of their skirt was just a little too short, they might be assaulted for it. This is so that one day girls won't have to know the pain that comes with being called a slut or a whore, and might see more of the words "leader" and "power" following their names for a change. This is so that one day, being a girl won't come with so many fearful strings attached. This is so that one day sexism will be a thing of the past, something we only know by reading our history textbooks. This is so that one day, no one, especially women, need to live in fear of another human being, but instead in equality.