If you are a woman, and a feminist, you have most likely said this before. Not because you are not a feminist, not because you do not support equal rights, but simply because of the desire to avoid the reaction that comes along when stating that you are part of this movement.

I know men and women who are feminists, who support equal rights to their full extent, yet receive extreme backlash when talking about this. Terms such as “killjoys”, and “feminazis” have taken over what is a meaningful and necessary movement of the 20th and 21st century. Things have changed, they have. The concept of feminism is now more obviously needed, provoking more acceptance, but there are still ignorant people in the world who do not understand what this movement is all about.

Feminism is not looking to promote the idea that women are superior to men. It is not looking to make women receive higher pay than their male counterparts. Feminism is not looking to make snowmen gender neutral. If someone is a feminist, they want to demonstrate the importance of women, to acknowledge the fact that, historically, women have been subordinate to men, and to basically bring about gender equality. The fact that feminists want to demolish toxic masculinity does not mean that we want to take away your masculinity. There is a fine line between the two, and those of us with a clear idea of what feminism is, do not cross it.

It is crucial that we understand that feminism is made to support equal rights for all. If your feminism only defends and stands by white women, it is not feminism. Fighting for some women is fighting for no women. Feminists stand by everyone. When supporting feminism, you are supporting a mass movement that is constantly fighting for equal rights. Women of color, trans people, and non-binary people. You can support feminism through a number of ways. This can be from signing a petition, to group protests for local problems, to large organizations such as Women’s March.

The “correct” form of activism does not exist, and there is not one issue that is more important than the other. The problems we are fighting for now are different than the ones we were fighting for ten years ago, and are probably different than the ones we will be fighting for ten years from now. What is clear is that feminism is a very serious issue, and it is not fair that society has turned such a beautiful and important movement into something to be ashamed of. This is a battle that needs to be fought by many different people, for many different people, in many different ways.