Feminism is a prominent player in the American social stage, as should be pretty clear from the Million Woman March. That said, there are a lot of people who have false views of feminism or don't realize exactly who it aims to benefit.

Modern feminism has a single overarching goal: Gender equality. There are a number of subgoals, such as wage/employment equality, reproductive rights, etcetera; but they all fall under the goal of gender equality. Although these efforts largely focus on improving circumstances and rights for women to equal those of men, there are larger societal implications of the movements.

Probably the most important has been the erosion of stereotypical femininity being the only acceptable way to be a woman. It is becoming increasingly acceptable for women to defy their gender roles of being girly, stay-at-home barefoot and pregnant moms. Although women are still underrepresented in positions of leadership and STEM fields, we as a society accept a greater variety of behavior from women without denying femininity.

Before you think that is the limit of what feminism does, you have to realize that feminism isn't just fighting against feminine gender roles, it is fighting against gender roles period. That's right, feminism fights against gender roles as a whole which means, guess what, feminism fights for men too!

Feminism fights for victims of sexual assault, male, female, and LGBTQ. It fights for women to get into leadership positions STEM fields just as much as it fights to end stigma against men who choose to be stay-at-home dads or less 'masculine' careers. It fights for an America, and world at large, where everyone has equal opportunities regardless of sex or gender identity.

Even if you personally have never felt the effects of sex or gender discrimination, doesn't mean those are not very real forces in our world that need vigorous action and vigilance to correct.

Feminism fights misogyny, it fights toxic masculinity, it fights the restriction of reproductive rights, it fights for the defiance of gender roles, etcetera. Men's rights activists, anti-feminists and others who criticize the movement usually misrepresent the movement with strawman arguments. The real feminism is a movement for all.

Even intersectionality is finding its way into feminism. This is a relatively recent shift that is still taking place, but the leading edge of feminism also fights for equality on racial grounds given the increased struggles of women of color over white women.

I stand with feminists not because I feel they need it, but because I feel we all need it.