Feminism. The word is powerful, complex, and controversial. It can cause riots, hate crimes and political movements. Like any intricate movement, feminism is multi-faceted and there are all different types of the word: radical feminism, pro-sex feminism, and liberal feminism. But when it comes down to it, feminism means equality and needs to be accepted as an integral part of the history and ever-evolving quest for human rights.

The word “feminist” must be re-evaluated for continued progress toward gender equality. Many people view “feminist” as the “f-word,” a bad word that is only used for seriously over-the-top stereotypes of lesbians and bra burners. But, this is obviously not the case. Feminism is gender-free. Feminism is for everyone. It is not simply equality for women but the theory of complete social, political and economic equality for the sexes. When inequality is rampant in societies, the whole structure risks the chance of ruin. Betty Friedan, the author of “The Feminine Mystique,” noted that sexism affects everyone: “Man is not the enemy here, but the fellow victim.” Feminism does not mean that women should receive special rights but women need to receive equal rights: “A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex but neither should she adjust to prejudice and discrimination,” wrote Friedan. Feminism has a negative connotation being born out of machismo culture but the word and its essence needs to be redefined. There are tons of misconceptions about feminism. But one great misconception about feminism is that feminists have to be women. So many men and women shy away from the word because of the connotations and stereotypes, it’s like they are afraid of what the word implies to everyone else. However, when the correct definition is provided, 65 percent of women and 58 percent of men call themselves feminists, according to a CBS News poll conducted in May 2005. The word itself is criticized for linguistically positioning women over men. The word is feminine, but in a patriarchal culture where language is blatantly racist and sexist, this one feminine word solely means equal rights.

And who doesn’t want equality? People have been crusading for centuries to reform the system and sadly, especially in our country, reforming the laws meant adding all people are created equal. Why wouldn’t that be included in the first place? So, now we’re on the Third Wave of feminism. And what does this mean? It means our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and great-great grandmothers were suffragettes fighting for women to get the vote. Our mothers fought for equal rights in the workplace and the right to choose. What are we as a new generation of feminists, fighting for? Now, surely some people will say that there is no continued need to create gender equality because women and men in the United States are already equal, but inequality does exists in all realms of our society and our world. The Equal Rights Amendment, or even a similar amendment of the same name was never passed in Congress and so constitutionally there is no amendment that solely supports gender-equality.

Currently, society is post-everything. Post-modernism, post-feminism, post-rock. All of these terms imply that our culture is so beyond the original concept that the initial idea is rejected and has no need to be used. According to post-structuralism, labels define things and definitions limit things and these words can be misconstrued to lace people into unfair stereotypes. I’m not the biggest fan of labels myself, I guess I could be labeled a post-structuralist but sometimes words hold great power.

The very word “feminist” has a rich, provocative history and was used to explain the waves of feminism and the women’s suffrage and liberation movements. If our society can embrace the word, then we can embrace action for human rights. In order to forward the equality movement, it is necessary to forward this newly reclaimed equality and empowerment.