For a lot of people, feminism is synonymous with hating men. This is an incorrect assumption however.

There is a word for women who hate men. That word is not “feminazi.” Thanks anyway Rush Limbaugh for popularizing an idiotic term that would come to be overused by angry men and women on social media outlets. I suppose that for some, it’s perfectly acceptable to equate supporting social and legal balance between the sexes to genocidal tendencies. Yes just as there is misogyny, there is also is a history of misandry.

There are complex variables to consider when it comes to feminism including the fact that there are different kinds and the fact that people rarely mention the LGBT aspect of it but in its simplest definition, it is the belief that all genders deserve equal treatment and opportunities. People in general should be socially, financially and legally as equal as our biology permits us to be.

People can’t understand this however. This couldn’t be more apparent given the recent movement of women posting on social media outlets about how they don’t need feminism. It’s perfectly fine to make motherhood and love a priority, however it’s a serious issue when women have been made to believe you can’t do these things and support equalization of the sexes.

Feminism means getting rid of rules in institutions that treat men better than women and visa versa. It doesn’t mean making men our inferior pets as we’ve been led to believe by the big market execs controlling the way we view things based on their medieval belief about who we should be.

Controversial television evangelist and conservative political activist Pat Robertson described feminism as “a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just him that felt this way but unfortunately he isn’t.

People tend to shy away from the topic. Even attempting to ask Los Medanos College Experience students about the subject resulted in frustration because most people refused to comment-especially the men. Perhaps they don’t have an accurate definition or perhaps they don’t support feminism and don’t want their business in the paper.

Whatever the case may be, how can we move forward with Women’s Rights when no one seems to know anything about it? You might be a feminist and not even realize it simply because you’re possibly buying into some misguided image.

Another issue relevant to the more social aspect of feminism that isn’t talked about enough is pseudo feminism, a practice often supported through the use of multimedia platforms. It’s often hard to spot because it’s intent is to appear to help, while actually causing harm to a much needed revolution.

We need to educate ourselves about what feminism actually means.

There is no downside to feminism. There is however a downside to people not knowing what the hell it is. Ignorance is the enemy of the disenfranchised.