This week my professor asked our class a question, "Who in here considers themselves a feminist?" Naturally, I raised my hand. I looked over, expecting the same from my friend, who, in my opinion has one of the biggest feminist mindsets of anyone I know. Instead she smirked, saying something like, "I hate when people get all fired up and are so extreme about it." Two years ago I probably would have said the same thing when asked the same question. I thought feminism meant being some huge woman's rights activist that strikes down the man, and swears she'll always be independent and never tied down. Then, I learned what it actually meant. Feminism, by definition, is that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. That's it. That is all you have to believe to call yourself a feminist. You don't have to " hate the man" and swear to never get married. All you have to do is expect to be treated as an equal.

Usually, I do see myself as an equal, and the men around me treat me as such. However, there are still occasions when you realize there are still misconceptions and generalizations about women as a whole. Today, I was reminded of this. I went to Lowes to look for battery powered LED lights for a sign I am making for my Taylor Swift Concert this weekend ( yes, Taylor Swift, such a basic girl thing to love). An employee came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I told him, and after laughing at me for making a light up sign for a concert, he told me they did not carry the product. I was about to say "thank you" and walk away, but he had some advice for me. He told me I should find one of those electrical engineering GUYS and they could help me out in the time it would take me to sit there and drink my Starbucks frappuccino. So not only was he not able to help me find what I needed, he insulted my intelligence as well.

There is the assumption that because I am a girl that I wouldn't be able to do anything except sit there and look pretty drinking Starbucks while a man did the work, an assumption I thought we outgrew decades ago. I am a coffee lover, and I do love Starbucks and make signs for a concert, very "girl" things to do. I am not an engineering major so no that would not be my strong suit. However, a stranger should not be able to figure that put by just looking at me, and it is certainly not out of the question for a woman. Thirty years ago when a man my mother babysat for asked her what she was going to major in college, she told him "Aerospace Engineering" and he laughed at her and told her she couldn't do that because she is a woman. Thirty years later she works for NASA, holding a position where she is several men's boss. My sister is in her third year of medical school, with hopes to be a surgeon, and often gets asked what kind of nurse she is. There is no way anyone can classify something as a "man's job" or a "women's job". It is 2015 and I may be all the things that are "basic" for a young woman, but I am so much more than that too.

I am a Communications major, with a Journalism concentration. Ask any frat star and he'll tell you that just means I am in college to find a husband, and nothing infuriates me more. I have hopes to change the world through my writing for the better. I want to build people up, not tear them down. I want to throw myself into my sorority's philanthropy, and help children overcome cancer. I want to travel. I want to inspire people. I want to carry myself with confidence and humility in everything I do. I am a basic girl, but I am also me. I am a feminist but I do not hate men. I do want to get married and have children someday, but that doesn't mean I can't want a career and life for myself as well. We are living in a world today where women are finally coming into their own. There are women like Emma Watson, who can give a speech on feminism to the United Nations. Taylor Swift has shown how strong female friendships can be. There are celebrities, writers, doctors, anyone you could imagine, who are women and are changing the world we live in, showing that women truly can do anything men can do. This is what feminism is, women being equal to men. I hope the next time someone asks who in the room is a feminist, you raise your hand.