"We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. 

Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are."

Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

~Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists~

♀

Feminism is a doctrine that advocates for gender equality. The concept is so simple, you'd think that everyone (or at least, most people) would be a feminist right? Wrong. Unfortunately, feminism evokes a ton of negative connotations, the main one being: feminists are all ugly, man-hating bitches that—as they suck on dick-shaped lollipops and gather their army of stray cats—want to destroy the patriarchy and take over the world.  Just try doing a google search:

Feminism carries a lot of baggage. So much, in fact, that a lot people are afraid to be publicly associated with the movement. Instead, they prefer to call themselves "egalitarians"(defined as: a person who advocates or supports the principle of equality for all people) or "equalists". Quite simply, a lot of the hatred for feminism stems from ignorance. Many don't really have an understanding of what the movement is about, and instead of properly documenting themselves, they prefer to just remain close-minded and follow the crowd of bigots. 

Human beings tend to fear what they don't comprehend and with fear, comes hostility. 

Women, since the beginning of time, have always been subject to oppression. It's not the stuff of legends; historical evidence, statistics, the facts don't lie, yet, gender inequality is still treated like a children's fairytale, whilst those who preach about it, nutjobs. Not only that—whenever women even attempt to start a conversation about discrimination, sexism, and male prejudices against them, they face immediate backlash, encounter someone who disagrees with everything that is said, and are labelled as man-bashing sluts. 

Those who are brave enough to openly talk about their experiences are often demeaned and mistreated, because no matter how bad things can get for a woman, men have experienced some form of it TOO or WORSE. Newsflash, amigos, nobody is saying that men cannot experience discrimination, sexism, and prejudice, nor that men cannot be allies. In fact, men can and SHOULD be feminists as well, because gender equality has something to do with them as well (duh). It's the fact that "not all men!" and "men get this too!" just has to get thrown in there (from both men AND women), as a way of minisming and pushes the experiences of women into the background. Who gives a shit if you've experienced something horrible? Someone out there has it worse than you!

Girl: I hate getting cat-called, especially when I'm walking down the street on my own. It makes me really uncomfortable and unsafe—I wish it would just stop. 

Other girl/Man: I've gotten cat-called too, and I don't have a problem with it! I actually really like it! So shut the fuck up and stop being such a whiny little bitch! GOSH people are so sensitive nowadays, can't even take a compliment! Fucking feminazis! 

Basically, "If it's not about you, stop making it about you." 

A lot of Westerners believe that feminism, in the 21st century, has no place in the developed world. Women have the right to get an education, to have an employment, to vote, to drive, to do almost whatever they want, but people seem to forget about the formidable amount of discrimination we face every day, such as body-shaming, slut-shaming, mansplaining, victim-blaming, etc. It's the little things that people seem to consider normal—such as a woman being told that if she doesn't stop being so opinionated, she'll never find a husband, or that sports are a "man's world"—that are a problem. 

Essentially, feminism has become the new F-word. 

As a feminist, I don't consider myself to be superior to men, nor do I hate them or wish for them to all catch on fire and throw themselves off a cliff. That's not what it's about—what I DO wish for is equal rights, which have yet to be full achieved. We are still a long way from gender equality. 

I'll make one thing very clear: Feminists are not Female chauvinists. (Just as there are male chauvinists there are female chauvinists)

According to Dictionary.com, a female chauvinist is a female who patronizes, disparages, or otherwise denigrates males in the belief that they are inferior to females and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit. 

This definition goes back to what I said earlier about the misconception of feminism.

♀♂

Feminism is an umbrella term for gender equality, so it does branch out into different types of feminism as well such as: Radical Feminism (aka "Femi-Nazis", which people seem to believe represent the entire movement), Cultural Feminism, Separatist and Lesbian Feminism, Environmental Feminism...etc.. Just go on Wikipedia, there's an entire list for it. 

Personally, I consider myself to be an Intersectional Feminist. This branch in particular recognises that not every feminist is white, cis-gendered, middle class, and able-bodied. According to Kimberlé Crenshaw (who coined the term in 1989), intersectionality is defined as:

"The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity."

In other words, certain groups have several aspects of their life they have to deal with, so each woman is different. For example, as a WOC, I have to deal with both racism and sexism on a daily-basis. 

♀♂

I also think it would be worth discussing meninism and Men's Rights Activists (MRAs).

This is supposedly the male counterpart to feminism, but it's nonsensical because male feminists already exist. The reason why we have the prefix "fem-" is because women are the oppressed group, not men. 

After scouring Urban Dictionary for an appropriate definition, I finally found one:

"Much like feminism, a complicated term, due to various uses and meanings depending on who you talk to. At its best, it refers to a male feminist, or as a speciality term for the drive for male equality under the subset of feminism. Usually refers to someone who doesn't understand the purpose and meaning of feminism, thinking it's the same as misogyny, though they usually realise their mistake.

At its worst, it refers to someone who counteracts feminism because they enjoy harassing women and/or have some crazy twisted ideas on what equality is. These dudebros will often claim they fight for men's rights, but when further pressed you'll often discover that it's for a very particular kind of man's rights- whiter than 2 percent milk and straighter than a ruler."

That last sentence got me weak. 😂😂😂

The #MeninistTwitter hashtag (and the movement itself) can be explained, in better terms, by Kat Blaque, a relatively well-known Feminist Youtuber. 

https://youtu.be/fnKYx4QFbpQ

♀♂

*wipes sweat off brow* 

Phew! That was exhausting! I'd like to give a special mention to Snigdha_Sk for suggesting that I rant about this, and I hope that y'all found it informational, non-offensive (because that wasn't the point of this rant), and that it helped clear any doubts about the movement. 

Btw, for those of you who are more familiar with Feminism and would like me to add something to this, just comment it below and ask me to do so :D

Bibliography: 

David, Sonia. "Feminists Are Not Female Chauvinists." Respect Women. Http://respectwomen.co.in/feminists-are-not-female-chauvinists/, 20 May 2014. Web. 1 June 2016.

FluffyRavens. "Meninist." Def. 17. Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary, 4 May 2015. Web. 1 June 2016.

The Nerd Bird. "This Is My Fight." Web log post. http://thenerdbirdwrites.blogspot.it/2014_05_01_archive.html. Blogspot, 25 May 2014. Web. 1 June 2016.

Vidal, Ava. "'Intersectional Feminism'. What the Hell Is It? (And Why You Should Care)." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 01 June 2016.

🍟🍟🍟

Is there something that you're itching to complain about, but have the good sense not to do so on a public forum? I can do it for you! Feel free to PM me with the topic you want me to rant about, and I won't think twice before adding it here. I'll be waiting!