I am a child of the most technologically advanced generation yet. Growing up, the expectations and stereotypes for girls were overwhelming and everywhere -- from our Barbies to our new toys like MySpace and Facebook. As a 13-year-old, I had near-free range of the web. Let's be honest, accessing websites intended for adults only was as easy as checking a box that promised I was 18. Through such sites, I witnessed the misogynistic sexualization, alienation and devaluation of my gender.

My first few years perusing the internet, I was bombarded with the realities of how girls were regarded in the grown-up world. I was taught that it was OK to send crude and threatening messages to women through the computer. I was taught that my body and my appearance mattered more than my brain and my accomplishments. I was taught that a man's body and decisions were his own but I did not have that luxury. Nearly every piece of information I received about my favorite musicians, actresses and even the female anchors on the nightly news was in regards to her image. How much weight she had gained or lost, which new diet she was on, who she was dating. I was consistently shown that I was an object of pleasure and entertainment, an object to look at and discuss casually, nothing more. But in the past few years, I have had the amazing privilege to see significant changes to female representation in media through social media platforms.

Don't get me wrong, we still have a LONG way to go, but we have made some great improvements with this new technology. Tumblr, Twitter, and various blogging websites have afforded women all over the world the chance to voice their opinions and demand action. When I first discovered Tumblr, I became obsessed and consequently spent entirely too much time reblogging posts. But the longer I stayed connected to the site, the more exposure I gained to issues that affected me. I started following more and more blogs dedicated to writing about these issues, and obviously, I became particularly passionate about one in particular: feminism.

Feminism is a concept used to categorize the many movements throughout history and our world today that seek to achieve and establish economic, social and political equality for all self-identifying women. These movements exist in response to the misogyny that is deep rooted in societies everywhere. The more I researched them, the more I became passionate about everything they fight for. And I started to notice how people, specifically the writers, comediennes and comedians, and actresses and actors, were using their work to talk about how F'd up things were (and still are) by rejecting sexist social norms and stereotypes through writing and performance.

Due to our culture's heavy dependence on the arts and media to reflect and advocate for important social issues like this, many individuals who work in the media industry have begun to get more and more attention by working on material that does just this. Have you noticed how many incredibly intelligent and profoundly talented women there are out there using their passions to break stereotypes and fight for feminist values?

There is Amy Poehler, who has co-founded a blog dedicated to highlighting women's contributions and accomplishments in their professional fields and communities; there are Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, who write and star in their own show about the wonderfully unlady-like and completely high-sterical situations their characters find themselves in; there's Amy Schumer, who fearlessly stands up in front of thousands of people and jokes about a topic previously forbidden to female comics -- sex; and there is Mindy Kaling, whose show has drawn attention to the attitudes and judgment women with careers and families are subject to dealing with (somehow a rarely touched-upon issue in mainstream media). Following these incredible women on accounts with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with hundreds of others just like them, I have learned more about the inequalities and struggles every woman faces in her daily life, as well as the ways feminism can help one to change things for future generations of women.

Connecting with social media accounts has allowed me the opportunity to learn more and more each day, and become a better advocate for my equality and representation. They have inspired me to contribute to the feminist movement with my own writing. If feminists hadn't pushed so hard to be heard, and for the media, to finally begin to move to reflect the social changes in our society, I cannot say whether or not I would have ever adopted the belief system and attitude I have for my gender.