The paper slid in front of me, and all I saw were endless possibilities. What did I want to be when I grow up? Chatter had already begun. Professions like ballerina and veterinarian were getting thrown out there. I settled with President of United States, which looking back on it now was an awful choice, but it was the simple fact that I had a choice at all.

I was raised in an environment that didn’t expect me to restrict myself. I grew up in a household full of freedom and while I’m grateful for it, this privilege can so easily blind me when it comes to the hurt and lives of people both near and far from me.

I became a “feminist” out of entirely selfish reasons. The small amount of information I had backing up my self-proclaimed title had little to do with what feminism was actually about. What I thought was just about “girl power” and “wage gap” meant the right to speak and live for a whole other part of the world. I was blinded by my privilege as a white, middle class, suburban female to even initially obtain a glimpse of understanding of what others face in this world.

What started as being narrow-minded and selfish, grew when I listened to people who have seen and lived out different experiences and starting doing personal research. My selfish priority in feminism diminished more and more as I exposed myself to different opinions and pay closer attention to what’s really happening outside of the Flower Mound culture that we have been consumed by.

So many people who reject the name of feminism do so because they have a misconstrued idea of what it actually is. I sat across from a friend in a coffee shop who spoke against it because it promoted only being strong and not needing anyone to help you. I’ve heard boys across the classroom groan that it’s centered around a deep-seeded hatred of men that has surfaced and is now taking over. I won’t forget in Physics being told straight to my face that it just wasn’t necessary anymore, now that women can vote, the movement is futile and pointless.

I’d like that person to say that exact sentence again, but not to me. I’d like them to say it to a rape victim who was told she was asking for it, to a victim of domestic abuse that is perfectly legal in many countries, Egypt and Pakistan just to name a few. I’d like them to say it to one of the 125 million girls, many who are under the age of 11, who have been genitally mutilated.

Feminism is a cause that fights for the betterment of this world, feminism wants to bring light to situations that have been ignored and in the dark for so long. How are we so easily consumed by superficial pop culture while simultaneously closing our conscience and ears to the villages being burned to the ground, to the children who are traded as a commodity and the refugees who just want to escape their daily reality of violence and pain?

Feminism is not just about being strong, it’s about helping one another. Feminism is not misandry, it’s giving a voice to the voiceless. The role of feminism has not been completed because there are still human lives that are counted as less because of their race, gender or religion.

While I had never rejected feminism, for a while I wasn’t doing right by it. Each day I learn how to better support a cause I believe in. I don’t expect to be perfect, but I try to grow and educate myself more each day. I don’t think everyone will immediately change their mind, but I do hope people reconsider the reality of feminism and stray from the stereotypes that are so easily branded. The cause of feminism is specific to each individual, but together it’s a movement towards equality for everyone in this world.