Recently, I have seen many an article (and multiple ignorant Facebook statuses) about not being a feminist. How that because you "believe in God," you're not a feminist. How that because you "want to be a mom," you're not a feminist. Or even that because you are "a nurturing woman," you are not a feminist. People claim they understand feminism, and some even go as far as saying it's unnecessary in this day and age. Women and men are equal, right? It's 2016 for crying out loud, we get paid the same amount, right!?

Wrong.

You are kidding yourself if you think men and women are treated equally in our society. I don't even understand how people can disagree with this statement when men are still dominating the business, entertainment, and political worlds.

Men are paid more than women for the same jobs. It is an indisputable fact. The New York Times stated: "In 2014, women in the 95th percentile of female earners made 79 percent of wages for men at the 95th percentile, while women in the lowest 10th percentile made 91 cents for each $1 earned by their male counterparts."

If you believe men and women should be paid the same amount for the same job, you are a feminist.

If you think women and men both have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies, you are a feminist.

If you think men and women should be given the same exact opportunities in the workplace, you are a feminist.

If you think both men and women can be whoever they want to be, you are a feminist.

People seem to be afraid of the word feminist and think that if you identify as one you have to burn your bra in the street while cursing men and God and Republicans. I'm here to tell you that is absolutely not the case. Just because you identify with a particular group of people does not mean you have to agree and do every single thing that group does. For example, there are millions of Christians all over the world, but they're not all extreme Christians. They don't all go to church on Sundays or live out the words of the Bible word for word. They don't all hate gay people or wait until marriage to have sex. However, they still all consider themselves Christians because they all believe in the same basic principles and the same God.

The same can be said for feminists. Just because I am a feminist does not mean I hate men or don't wear a bra or don't enjoy cooking. If you are naive enough to believe the stereotype of a feminist, let me ask you a question: Do you also believe every other stereotype is true? Do you think all professional baseball players take steroids? Do you think all tall people play basketball? Do you think all black people love Kool-Aid? Do you think all French people are rude? Please tell me you answered no to all of them. If you answered yes, maybe you should travel more.

All being a feminist means is that you believe in the social, political and economic equality of men and women. That's it.

A lot of people say, "Well, it should be called equalism then!"

No. Men have been in charge of things since the beginning of civilization. They do not need to catch up to women socially, politically, or economically. Women need to be afforded the same opportunities as men, and that is why we call it "feminism."

Let me offer you a beautiful excerpt from the amazing Beyonce song, "Flawless:"

“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, economic equality of the sexes.”

This is an excerpt from Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Why We Should All Be Feminists” Ted Talk, featured in Beyonce's song, and it is wonderfully accurate.

Beyonce is a feminist.

Amy Poehler is a feminist.

John Legend is a feminist.

Emma Watson is a feminist.

Jennifer Lawrence is a feminist.

Colin Firth is a feminist.

Nicki Minaj is a feminist.

Tom Hardy is a feminist.

Adele is a feminist.

Daniel Radcliffe is a feminist.

Taylor Swift is a feminist.

President Obama is a feminist.

I could go on...

Basically, if you do not consider yourself a feminist, I beg you to see why you are on the wrong side of history. Women should be allowed to do whatever they want with their lives without judgement and so should men. If you want to be a stay-at-home wife while your husband works, great! Good for you. If you want to be a stay-at-home dad while your wife works, great! That's awesome, too!

Stop judging people based on their gender. It's utterly ridiculous why things are considered "girly" or "manly." You have to realize that the idea of something being "girly" or "manly" is entirely constructed by society. If society told you that pink was suddenly a men's color and blue was suddenly a women's color, you wouldn't think any differently, or care, even. Because honestly, who cares if I wear men's deodorant or a guy uses a women's razor? It will not effect your life.

I understand everyone has the right to their own opinion. However, women coming out saying they do not support feminism is holding the rest of us back who are working so hard toward equality. It's almost like a black person coming out in the 1960s saying they don't support the equality of the races. Or a gay person saying they don't support same-sex marriage equality. It's completely backwards.

So please, please stop saying you're not a feminist. If you truly believe women belong in the kitchen and men should be in charge of women, then fine, keep saying you're not a feminist. But if you think men and women should simply be afforded the same opportunities socially, politically and economically, call yourself a feminist. And call yourself a feminist proudly.