I spend a lot of time on Twitter, which I probably shouldn’t do because more often than not it upsets me and causes me to lose faith in our generation. Especially after the creation of a meninist page. Yes, there are now meninists. For those that don’t know the term, meninists on Twitter consider themselves the opposites of feminist, believing that men should have equal rights. These meninists completely lost the point of feminism.

Feminists are not angry women burning their bras, hating men, and disgusted by stay-at-home moms. Feminists actually believe that women and men are equal and that they should therefore be considered equal because – honestly – we are equal, we are all human.

The reason men believe they need meninism, is because they feel that women have certain expectations for men. According to the meninists Twitter page, all women want men with six packs and killer jaw lines, who are tall, and handsome and most importantly rich. But personally, when I am attracted to a boy, it has nothing to do with his six pack, and all to do with his brain. Guys refuse to believe this to some extent, but as a girl, I was told to dress nicely and wear nice clothes and to do every little thing I can do to make sure boys like me.

It goes both ways, most boys like girls with curves just as much as most girls like boys with rock hard abs. It’s the way it is. Boys also seem to believe girls are lying to them by wearing makeup, when makeup was created by a man so that women could exaggerate their feminine features. Push up bras were created by man. Victoria’s Secret? A man. High heels? First worn by men. So guys can’t complain that women created these things to make us seem prettier. It’s a social standard for women to pluck their eyebrows, wear bras, shave their legs and armpits, and draw black lines on their eye. Men started all these fashion fixtures so before you complain, know what you are talking about.

Meninists also feel it is unfair that women don’t pay for a man’s dinner, but do you know how many times I’ve tried to pay for a guy’s food and wound up in an argument? They want us to pay, but when we do they feel emasculated. I’m sorry but you can’t have both.

Maybe it stems from religion, as the Bible says a woman was created from the rib of a man, making her less than man and therefore should be submissive to man. Although I don’t believe that the church is necessarily responsible, it could be a reason why women are sometimes treated by men as less than a man.

Now I know the typical argument, “not all men” are sexist pigs or oppressing women or whatever it seems like feminists believe of them, but all women at some point experience being harassed by men. According to some, men have always been superior to women, evident in their pay, job opportunities, and rights.

We need feminism because when rating a movie, it can easily switch from PG-13 to R based off of how much it appears that a woman is enjoying the sex in a sex scene (I’m sorry, what?). Are women not expected to enjoy sex?

And while on the topic of women enjoying sex, female genital mutilation, the practice of removing a woman’s genitalia and then restitching it to the body so that the woman can no longer experience sexual pleasure, is still practiced in 29 countries. These surgeries take place on infants as young as five months old. This is nothing like circumcision because a circumcised boy can still enjoy sex but it’s considered “cleaner”, but the purpose of FGM is to literally refuse a woman the pleasure of sex. Why is this done? So men can control the sexuality of women. It’s believed to lessen the desires and temptations of women to preserve their virginity.

In more than 120 countries, we still don’t have laws against marital rape. Yes, husbands and wives can still rape their significant other even if they’re married. And there’s no law to help women who suffer from marital rape. Shouldn’t it be considered domestic violence?

Feminism is more than just women who feel oppressed. Although there are organizations, such as Women Against Feminism, who disagree with what feminists are fighting for, feminists are fighting for our humanity as a society. It isn’t about telling women what to do, how to behave, and that they should hate men, it’s about giving women the same freedoms that men have. That is something to be angry about.

I do agree however, that men do experience the same amount of gender expectations as women. But why is it that when a boy is being sensitive and emotional that he is considered a “girl”? Why is being called a girl an insult? Feminists want people to realize that we are equal. We are all human and should be treated as such.

I wholeheartedly know that certain feminists are doing the whole movement a disadvantage by being overly aggressive and by promoting the misogyny they’re fighting against. But that’s the same problem with every cause. In this world we have individuals who kill in the name of Jesus, God, Allah, and any other religious entity you can imagine. We have individuals who throw blood and red paint at those who wear fur because they’re fighting for animal rights. So yes, some women are misrepresenting the movement, but that’s not the big picture. There shouldn’t be a negative connotation for someone who’s fighting for their rights to be equal.

As well, feminists are not all women. Meninists were originally men who were in support of feminism, until some person with Internet access got the idea to make a misogynist page reiterating why we need feminism in the first place. Women speaking out about their oppression should not cause men to feel oppressed. Not all men believe they are better than women or believe they should earn more than women or are sexist pigs or rape or catcall at women and sexualize them, but unfortunately, this is something virtually all women experience. So yes, we do need feminism. Because when I have a daughter, I hope with every inch of my being that she grows up in a society where she is considered equal to her male counterpart and gets equal opportunity, pay, and equal representation. I hope to one day live in a world where feminism is no longer needed, because the fight is over and men and women are finally equal.