It happens every time.
I talk to men intellectual, funny, sometimes even well-meaning men and the moment I mention the word feminist, their body language shifts. They smirk. They say things like:
“Oh, you’re one of those feminist types.”
“We don’t need feminism anymore, right?”
“It’s just about women hating men these days.”
But let me ask this:
What is feminism, really?
Isn’t it, at its core, just about equality?
Not superiority. Not reverse discrimination. Not a license to hate. Just equality.
Feminism is not a Western import. It is not just a trendy label slapped on tote bags or profile bios. Feminism is an ancient, global, and deeply revolutionary act of claiming humanity again and again and again.
Let’s Start with History
Feminism didn’t begin in the 1960s. It didn’t begin with hashtags. It began when the first woman refused to be property.
It began when Fatima Sheikh and Savitribai Phule walked into classrooms filled with caste-based venom and taught Dalit girls how to read.
It began when Qiu Jin in China unbound her feet and took up arms against the Qing dynasty, demanding liberation not just for her country but for women too.
It began when Tahmineh Milani in Iran made films that exposed the hypocrisy of patriarchy, despite the government’s censorship. And it continued when Mahsa Amini’s death sparked a revolution on the streets, led by women burning their hijabs not because they rejected culture, but because they demanded choice.
It began when Rosa Luxemburg, a Jewish Marxist woman in the heart of Europe called for a world where workers and women alike were not machines of labor, but beings of intellect and dignity.
It began in the whispers of the Indian textile workers, the Adivasi women marching for land rights, the anonymous midwives in medieval villages who fought to heal women’s bodies while being called witches.
It began in the body. And it stays in the body.
Because feminism is not just a policy. It is not just a right to vote or work. It is the right to live inside your body without shame. To speak without being “too loud.” To bleed without hiding. To age without apology. To say no. To say yes. To not be followed home. To not be the punchline. To not be an accessory in someone else’s story.
Why Does It Still Make People Uncomfortable?
Because feminism demands that we face the fact that most systems were not designed with women in mind.
Architecture.
Medicine.
Law.
Religion.
Science.
Art.
Even language.
We still live in a world where a woman’s assertiveness is labeled aggression. Where ambition in a woman is either fetishized or feared. Where dressing modestly means being repressed, and dressing freely means being “available.”
So yes, I am one of “those” feminist types.
Because I want little girls to be raised not just with fairy tales but with stories of revolution. I want boys to grow up knowing that softness is not weakness, and that equality doesn’t mean they have to lose something.
And I want to stop having to explain over and over that feminism is not about thrashing men. It is about healing everyone from the rigid roles we’ve all been forced into.
Feminism says: You do not have to be a warrior to be respected. You do not have to be a mother to be whole. You do not have to compete with other women to be worthy. And you, yes you, do not have to play god to be a man.
Feminism is for All
Feminism is for the trans woman reclaiming her femininity in a world that tells her it’s not real.
Feminism is for the single father who teaches his son to cry.
Feminism is for the factory worker’s daughter who refuses to be silenced.
Feminism is for the mother who never learned the language of self-love.
Feminism is not the enemy.
It is the only path to equality that recognizes how deeply inequality is sewn into our everyday life from the clothes we wear to the taxes we pay.
So the next time someone rolls their eyes at the word feminist, I hope they remember that feminism gave them the right to do so.
And as for me?
Yes, I’m a feminist. Loudly. Proudly. Softly. With care. With rage. With hope.
Because I believe in equality. In the full humanity of every gender.
And because this fight: it’s not over yet.
