Does this word make you annoyed? Angry? Happy?

If it makes you feel anything, I want to know what emotion and why so that very emotion.

When I see or hear that word, I feel ignited. I never thought that one word would mean so much to me until I realized what it is and what it could mean for me.

Of course, at first, I was ignorant and probably threw out the word “femi-nazi” around foolishly. But now, at the age of 21, I truly know better and hope that you too, will take the stand and understand that feminism is a good thing.

Now, some people will gladly argue that feminism is real – but to me, it’s not real, yet.

It is a concept that we, as the vast human race, are quite far from. There are traditions rooted in a plethora of cultures where the genders are not treated equally.

We need feminism – we gravely needed it in the past and very much so in the present.

You may not * think * that you need it, but let me tell you why I need it, and desperately needed it when I was younger.

When I was younger… I was molested. When it first happened, my mom did not believe me. When it happened again, he did not go to jail. When it happened another time, he did not receive any sort of punishment. After it all happened, nothing happened to him.

When it happened, I became a victim of sexual abuse. When it happened, I felt like my voice, innocence, and childhood was taken away. After it happened, I couldn’t be touched by other people and even the touch of my own hand scared me. After 5 years, I remain haunted by him, there’s never a day where I don’t think about him and what happened. I am forever scarred with wounds that open all the time – the pain truly never goes away. I still struggle with stitching myself together – I fear that I will randomly break down and not be able to hide my tears.

At 21, I no longer call myself a victim. I am a survivor – but, tragically, there are many people who have been through much worse than me and they did not survive. So my cry for feminism is not about me – it’s about the people whose lives were stolen from them. My cry for feminism is about the men and women who have been raped and don’t have a voice right now. My cry for feminism is a cry itself – I want my voice to be heard because there was a moment where my voice could not come out – and I never want that to happen again, ever.

But I digress.

I am just one girl. I am just one person. But this happens to many more girls and boys, teenagers, young adults… daily. And that is why we need feminism. No one deserves to be violated and we must teach that feminism is not just about equal pay, it’s equal treatment for everyone. Feminism is not just about men being able to wear skirts and women being able to have cool hairy armpits, it is about not having to live in fear because of your gender.

So now, how does the word ‘feminism’ make you feel?