By Rachel Dolbec, guest columnist

The word B次元官网网址渇eminismB次元官网网址� has become taboo in todayB次元官网网址檚 society.

The minute you say you are a feminist, most people assume it means you hate all men. ThatB次元官网网址檚 because of the stigma surrounding the feminist movement.

I have experienced this myself. One time, I was out with a friend and that personB次元官网网址檚 mother and happened to mention I am an advocate of feminism. The mother responded with, B次元官网网址淥h God, please tell me youB次元官网网址檙e not one of those.B次元官网网址� Hearing this from a woman shocked me to my very core.

As a woman, if you are not a feminist then you must not care about women having the same opportunities as men.

Yes, I am B次元官网网址渙ne of those.B次元官网网址� I am a feminist who promotes the true definition of feminism: the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

Many people today believe that feminism is synonymous with misandry B次元官网网址� hating men. ItB次元官网网址檚 not. The reason this belief exists is because men run the world.

When women try to stick up for our rights, such as trying to change the fact that women make 75 cents to every dollar a man makes, it is written off as looking for something to complain about. Because nobody needs feminism, right?

Wrong. I need feminism. I need feminism because my middle school told me how to dress when there were no rules for how the boys could dress. When called out about this inequality, they simply said that it was because I was B次元官网网址渢oo young to be wearing shorts that short.B次元官网网址� Well, in that case, then I am also too young for you to be sexualizing me for wearing them.

I need feminism because rape courts still ask what the victim was wearing. I need feminism because I want B次元官网网址� no, I deserve B次元官网网址� to be able to walk down the street without worrying about being harassed and catcalled, merely because I decided to wear a skirt that day. As a woman, I donB次元官网网址檛 mind being B次元官网网址榗hecked outB次元官网网址� by other people; what I do mind is being stared at like IB次元官网网址檓 a piece of meat.

I need feminism because I need people to understand that the number of times I have sex says nothing about my character. I need feminism because I am done with being quieted about these issues, only because they upset misogynists.

Feminism isnB次元官网网址檛 just for men and women anymore. Feminism is for all genders, binary and non-binary alike. Feminism is about equality for everyone and raising the living standards for people all around the world.

The feminist movement is here to help stop rape culture, to end B次元官网网址渉onourB次元官网网址� crimes and to permanently remove sexism from society as a whole.

It will be around forever because, as Cheris Kramarae puts it, B次元官网网址渇eminism is the radical notion that women are human beings,B次元官网网址� and there is nothing B次元官网网址渢abooB次元官网网址� about that.

Rachel Dolbec is a Grade 11 student at Belmont secondary.