I need to set things straight right away — I do NOT in any way condone physical abuse, rape, verbal degradation, or the mistreatment of women, nor do I support lawful disparities between the rights and treatment of males and females.

In my 16 years of experience of being a girl, I have never once been unable to do something because of my gender. I have been told I can’t do it. I have been told I shouldn’t do it. I have been told I probably won’t be able to do it. However, as I’m sure you can guess, I did it anyway. Now to that, some might respond, “You haven’t tried to do enough things yet.” Maybe that’s true. Maybe I just haven’t yet hit that obstacle that I can’t beat. But you know what? If I do get there, I’m not going to try to knock that barrier down using words and politics.

There’s currently a phrase in circulation that says, “fight like a girl.” It’s cute. Whoever thought of it should be proud; they created a trend that attempts to dethrone the assumption that men are superior to women. The key word there is “attempts,” because do you really think that in 20 years our children will be telling each other to fight like a girl? For some people that claim to be feminists, this idea cannot become a reality. Well, you know what? If someone tells me to “fight like a man,” I’m not going to politely tell him or her that what they’ve said is offensive to all women and they should think before saying such a misogynistic phrase. If someone tells me to “fight like a man,” I am not going to explain why I can fight just as well as a man could, I am going to show that punk that I can. If someone tells me to “fight like a man,” then I’m going to fight like hell: that’s what a girl does.

There are thousands of people out there trying every day to make sure that young girls receive the same opportunities as young boys. If a girl wants to play on the football team, let her. If a girl wants to be smart, let her. If a girl wants to play with the guys, let her. We’ve gotten so caught up making sure that girls can do whatever they want to do that we have created this black and white world. Either you accept the girl onto your wrestling team, or you’re sexist. We have worked so hard to move away from one end of the spectrum that we have landed on the complete opposite. If a girl isn’t as good as the rest of the boys trying out for a team, she shouldn’t make it; that’s equality. Equality isn’t saying, “Oh well she’s a girl, she’s naturally engineered to be weaker than these boys, we can’t hold that against her” until your team is 50 percent female. What made the successful, powerful women we see today so strong was being told countless times that they wouldn’t be able to do it. Women say they are so tired of being told that they can’t do something. Well, what happens when people stop saying that? If your daughter makes the varsity football team, you’ll be just as proud as the parents of the boy playing next to her. She won’t get any special recognition, praise... nothing. That’s what you are fighting for. Sure some girls’ dreams seem to have been hampered by sexism, but if they didn’t do everything possible to prevent that from happening, they didn’t want it bad enough. In some ways, sexism has helped us. Sexism has created this false sense that women aren’t able to do some things, and when we prove we can, it goes viral. No one wants to admit it, but being praised and celebrated for doing something the world never thought you could, even if the reason for that was your gender, feels pretty great.

Many people will disagree, but I am OK being told that I can’t do something, because I’m a fighter. If I am really passionate about something, I will work as hard as I can to make my dreams come true. You know what I want to be when I grow up? An environmental engineer. And if you think for a second that I will be discouraged down the line to enter an industry so dominated by men, you’re wrong. I love the idea that women aren’t scientists. I love that my chances of achieving my dreams are burdened by the weight of my gender. The career path I plan to follow presents me with a huge challenge. I love a challenge. Girls love a challenge. I can’t wait to be told that I can’t do it, that I won’t be successful. Because once I am, it will feel that much better.