It's easy to hear "equal rights for men and women" and jump on the feminism train, but are you really on board or are you just kinda chilling at the train station and waving your ticket at everyone who will listen? Or maybe you've seen "feminists" doing not-so-feminist things like yelling about how all men suck and thinking women are better than men, and you decided feminism wasn't for you and was sorta awful all together. Well, congratulations, both of these scenarios are wrong.
There's a lot more to feminism than just being proud to be a woman and wanting the same rights as men. A huge part of feminism is lifting your fellow women up and supporting them (without putting down men!!!) no matter who they are. So we're gonna get a few things straight, and at the end of this article, one of two things will happen: You'll realize you've been half-assing being a feminist, or you'll realize you've been a feminist all along and you've let the word "feminism" scare you even though you actually stand for the same values.
You are not a feminist if...
Your feminism isn't intersectional. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but if you aren't angry that WOC get treated even worse than white women, you can't call yourself a feminist. Feminism is about supporting all women of all colors. You marched in D.C. wearing a pink hat? Fabulous, proud of you, but where are you now that 22 Latinx and Black girls have gone missing in D.C.? Where did your rage go after the march? Non-intersectional feminism isn't feminism.
Your feminism excludes the LGBT+ community. Once again, you have to support all women. You can't claim to be a feminist while trying to take away rights from the LGBT+ community, because that takes away rights from people of all genders, including women. I'm not saying you have to 'agree with their lifestyle' if that's an issue for you, but you do have to realize that just because you don't agree with it for whatever reason, that doesn't give you the right to take away other people's rights. And yes, this especially includes supporting trans women, because they are women too, and they deserve your support, respect, and rights.
Your feminism only applies to women of the same religion. Together now: All. Women. Deserve. Equal. Rights. No matter what their religious background is or what they do or don't believe in. Their beliefs don't affect you, but how they're treated by society sure does. Why? Because you're a woman too, and you should care about the treatment and welfare of other women.
You slut-shame other women. You do not get to dictate what other women do with their bodies. You do not get to dictate what other women do with their bodies. You do not get to dictate what other women do with their bodies. You do not get to yell at a girl from your car that her skirt is too short (this happened to a friend of mine). You do not get to treat a woman like she's less than you whether the number of guys she's slept with is 20 or 0. You do not get to force your own perceptions of how a woman should dress or act on other women because what a woman does with her own body has no bearing on your life, so you don't get to act like your preferences have any bearing on anyone else's lives. If you slut-shame women, honestly, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why you think it's OK to put down other women for any reason whatsoever.
Your feminism is based on hating men. One thing that seems to get completely misconstrued about feminism is that it revolves around hating on men for no reason other than the fact that they're men and they're all trash. Obviously, this isn't true. Of course there are some trash humans in the world (of all genders), but that gives us no right to hate on one completely. If you spend your time shouting to the heavens that all men suck, you can go ahead and keep doing it if you want, but it's not feminism, and feminists would appreciate it if you would stop giving us a bad name. Man-hating is a great way to make half the world hate on feminism. Congrats, it's working, people are becoming very hesitant about labeling themselves feminists. Your feminism should stem from your love for yourself and other women, not from your hatred of men. Deal with those issues on your own and let the hatred out of your heart.
You are a feminist if...
You really and truly do support all women with no conditions. You may be telling yourself 'well yeah, of course I support all women of all different backgrounds, but i'm *not* a feminist.' Yeah, you are. Hate to tell you this, but every time you tell a woman you aren't a feminist and it's obvious you just don't like the word 'feminism,' that woman rolls her eyes because she knows better. Just because you don't like the word because it has a 'negative connotation' doesn't make you any less of a feminist. I really wish it would inspire you to help bring back a positive connotation to the word and to work toward showing the world what feminism really is: Equality for all men and all women of all colors, religions, sexualities, genders, and backgrounds.
Equality is for everyone.
