I love feminism and all that it stands for. I believe in equal pay, non-discrimination based on gender, and women should have control over their own bodies. I believe that menstrual products should not have a "luxury tax" and that women do not need someone else to validate our own opinions. I know what you're thinking, "Dana, you just wrote a feminist piece last week. Do you really have to write another one this week?" Yes, yes I do. I have to write this piece because there is a common misconception about feminists, and I am here to clear up that misconception.

For some reason, there is a common belief among men and women alike that all feminists hate men. They think that the feminist agenda consists of everything they can possibly think of in order to surpass men and replace the patriarchy with a matriarchy. It's not hard to see why this is such a common belief nowadays. In any social movement, the people with the loudest voices are the ones who are the most radical. Maybe they get frustrated that their voices are not being heard and that the only way they will be seen is to be as outrageous as possible. The best example of this is the "sextremist" organization FEMEN. FEMEN is most notably known for their topless protests among other radical protest techniques. Their goal is even spelled out clear as day on their website, "Complete victory over patriarchy."

While FEMEN and other organizations like it are the ones that are heard the most, it is important to know that most feminists, including me, do not feel this way. In fact, I despise organizations like FEMEN. We are not looking to defeat men, nor are we looking to surpass them or show that they are the weaker gender. That's just counterintuitive. Why would a social ideology that focuses on equality look to put down someone else? The main goal of feminism is equality for all, and that includes men, women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, etc.

I'm not sure when being a feminist started to equate to men-hating, but this misconception has gone on long enough. In the fight for gender equality, men are our biggest allies. Yes, it is true that I have met some ignorant men who believe that a woman's place is in the kitchen and not in the workplace, but it is also true that I have met plenty more men who see the unfair treatment of women and want to help to stop it. Social movements' biggest weapons are allies that span across multiple social groups and identities.

The ideology that one gender over another is just plain sexism. It doesn't matter if it's males over females or females over males. Sexism has no place in feminism, and it's important that we make that distinction clear.