As soon as anyone says one simple word – feminism – a majority of people will groan in discomfort and roll their eyes. A large portion of the human race hates the word; but for what reason? Are feminists still needed in our society? Are women still oppressed around the world?

Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Meaning that women do not wish to be viewed as superior. Women are not in search of special rights; they are in search of their rights to be recognized. While one of the main points of feminism is to empower women, it does not mean feminists view women as oppressed, weak people. Feminists are not trying to make women stronger; they are fully aware of their strength. They simply want society to note that strength too.

Even though more people are starting to comprehend the true definition of feminism, there is still a negative stigma that seems to stick with the word. Many still depict every feminist as a man-hater who hates lipstick, crinkles her nose at stay-at-home moms, never shaves, and unapologetically supports abortions. These false assumptions are the leading cause to anti-feminism campaigns.

“I consider myself a supporter and activist of feminism because I understand the fact that women have been oppressed for years and just sitting back and knowing in my mind that it is not okay for women to be treated and thought of in that way, is not enough,” senior LaNyah Patwin said.

With that, feminism is not meant to tear down males in order to build females up; that has never been the goal. To simply put it, feminists want both men and women to be equal; politically, economically and socially. They don’t want restrictions based off something like their gender; clothing, social expectations, jobs and more. Many believe that the world does not need ‘female equality’ due to the fact that we are, and always have been, equal. Many women have even joined in anti-feminism campaigns saying why they refuse to be a feminist. Although everyone may have their own opinion, what some say in these campaigns, falsely portrays feminism as a whole.

“Every movement has a negative conduct about it, even the most pure intended groups have a negative denotation and unfortunately, feminism is seen as a man-hating cult in our society,” Patwin continues.

Society still holds a negative stigma on one simple term: feminism. This simple topic can be such a taboo topic; and most people refuse to talk about it and or go on a tangent. The matter of the fact is this; if this world didn’t need feminism, we would stop teaching girls how to not get raped and instead teach people to not rape. There are approximately two million victims of sex trafficking each year (85 percent are women). Women still make less money than men with the same job. Men are criticized for showing too much emotion or being too girly. We think only girls can be feminine and only boys can be masculine.

Most people say feminism is no longer needed but equality still hasn’t been entirely achieved yet, and equality is the root of feminism.