The definition of feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Feminism is not about man-hating, but about equality. Feminism has made a huge comeback. From women’s suffrage in the 1920s to the equal rights movement in 1970s and today, we have modern-day feminism. Through social media, women’s rights grew in popularity, it’s all over the internet and in the news, but has the meaning of true feminism be clouded by wrong meanings and intentions? Some use feminism as an excuse to justify wrong doings or bad behavior, leaving a bad impression of what feminists fight for. Some use feminism to have power over men.

Roxane Gay is a trending writer and journalist. She is the author of a book called Bad Feminist. In this book she describes how women are portrayed today.

“Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink.”

Roxane describes the stereotypes of women, and how women are not all the same.

Girls are obviously connected to the color pink, and this quote from the book just shows how misconstrued the idea of a woman is. Women don’t all have long, shiny hair, they don’t all wear dresses, they don’t all enter a relationship with a man, and they don’t all love the color pink. This is how we now see all women. Not every girl watches sports, and if they do, not all of them watch sports to look at cute boys. Women models are not all dumb and blonde. Women can be as smart as men, they have the same qualities to be great scientists, engineers or pilots.  Women can be stay at home moms, and can be secretaries, teachers, and librarians, but they can also be auto mechanics, politicians, they can join the army, and be doctors, not just nurses. Women are not all flirts, they don’t all lust for attention and want to be looked at. Most of all, women don’t need a man to open a jar for them.

Feminism is no excuse to be rude or hateful towards men, rather instead work with them to gain equality. Social media, postings of girls with wrong definitions of feminism, women that hate men, are all the things that give feminism a wrong definition.

Remember that feminism isn’t a bad thing, you just have to know what you stand for and why.