Being an active member of the at times depressing and disturbing internet-o-verse, it seemed indubitable that I would eventually stumble my way across the sad pictures, videos, and statuses denouncing “modern feminism,” with ignorantly proud people touting the slogan ‘I am Not a Feminist’ with the ease that comes with brightly burning nescience. While assured that this cocoon of incognizance is a lovely place to be, I’m unapologetically going to puncture this bubble of ignorance with the definition of what feminism is:

Fem-i-nism: 1. the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes 2. organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.

And before the inevitable (weak) protestations that 2016’s feminism does not align with the dictionary definition, I ask you this: do you believe that person A and person B who are doing the exact same task for a company and doing it 100% equally as well as the other person should be paid the exact same wage for their labor? If so, that makes you a feminist because, guess what? Person A was female and Person B was male, meaning that you believe – regardless of sex or gender - that someone should be paid equal another for performing the same task. This is equality of the sexes. This is the definition of feminism. How can people say that they are not a feminist if they think everyone is born equal and should be treated as such in social, political, and economic situations? Because that is the definition of feminism.

I have ‘friends’ on social media who have posted a video that supposedly “destroys feminism” in an angry diatribe of ignorance that rails against women who shout about all men being pigs and frames that as being what modern feminism is, but alas, I have not met a single person who calls themselves a feminist that believes men are unintelligent or behaviorally disgusting or inferior beings. But if you have, I’m not sorry to say that the person you met does not represent the millions and millions of people of all genders who identify as feminists. (And it’s your judgmental problem if you use that one rare anomaly to stereotype and bias every other person. That’s your issue.)

To be honest, the fact that people who pronounce their position against feminism even have the right to do so without being violently targeted or punished by the legal system for having an opinion about such a controversial social and political issue is due to feminists who have fought for the right to be treated equal to men in society. Women who say they aren’t feminists but are able to own their own apartment, drive a car they own to a workplace, or are able to share an opinion in a classroom without stares of disapproval or outright shock that they are a doctor or a manager or a CEO or a police officer or are capable of having an independent thought or live on their own are due to the struggles and triumphs of feminists. Our way of life that is so often taken for granted is a direct result of people who have fought for their rights and freedoms from the oppressive patriarchy of the past, and for any person to denounce feminism is to utterly disrespect the sacrifices of men and women and every other human being who have fought, are fighting, and will continue to fight for the equality of every gender, race, and religion.

Feminism used to encompass struggles like fighting for the right to vote for women and people of color, then it was part of the fight for equal treatment of minorities and African Americans, the fight for equal pay of all people, the fight to be taken seriously as an employee, to attend university, to not be harassed on the street or in the workplace, the fight to be treated the same as a male and end discrimination. Feminism today encompasses struggles like fighting for equal pay (#Jennifer Lawrence if you need a specific example of unequal pay), the fight to end discrimination between gender and sexual orientation in the workplace, the fight against sexual harassment on the street and everywhere else, the fight against ingrained patriarchal ideals that shame sexuality, the fight to be taken seriously as a leader of a company or department, the fight for women and children to receive an education, the fight against human trafficking, sexual slavery, child marriage, and the fight against the systemic oppression of LGBTQ+, females, and all races and religions.

So to you I would say, if you still believe that feminism is a dirty word, I would challenge you to tell Malala Yousafazi, who was shot in the head for believing that she had the fundamental right to go to school (as a female), that she, nor anyone else, should be a ‘modern feminist’.

Feminism is not a dirty word. It’s time to start believing it. And it’s past time to join the global fight for equality of all people.

I am a feminist, are you?