Can we change the perceptions of Feminism?

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions, right? But what if these opinions are  actually not always politically correct? This is what happened to me recently last weekend. I was meeting up with some of the fellow bloggers of Shout Out and we were going to chat about feminism over dinner and some wine. One of us made a post on Facebook that we were going to meet later that night to talk about feminism. And it being social media and all of course this news ran like wild fire and offended a person to whom we knew.

So this person on their Twitter account made a comment on what they thought about feminism. They had said, and I am paraphrasing because you technically should not copy tweets, that they decided they had a huge hatred toward feminists. They compared feminists to being racist and being a feminist gives women a bad name. After I read that I didn’t feel too happy about that comment since it was geared toward my fellow bloggers and me. But after talking about feminism to other people for a while I know I am going to run into those people who don’t understand what feminism is exactly.

So going back to this comment, two other people whom I know wrote back to this comment basically giving the other person a lesson on what being a feminist really is. They talked about how being a feminist is a thing to be proud of. This person mentioned that they think women should have equal pay for equal work, just as a man does.  They also brought up some historical facts of feminism about how if it weren’t for feminist we would not have the right to vote, be able to get the same education as a man such as going to college, or the right to choose what we do with our own body. They also mentioned how this person should have chosen their words more properly because they supposedly meant to say that it was radical feminists that they did not approve of. Still that’s a sticky situation because not everyone knows exactly what being a radical feminist is. They see being a radical feminist as something completely negative and see them as what one person on Twitter said a group of “crazy women”.

The reason I bring up this discussion is because throughout this blog I want to be able to change the minds of those out there that think being a feminist are all those horrible things that person had felt about. I don’t blame the person for feeling this way about feminism. You have to realize some people grow up in families and areas where they are taught being a feminist is a bad thing. Its us my fellow bloggers and I and all of you out there that need to change this negative conception of being a feminist,  and show them what it truly means to be a feminist in the modern day. Keep in mind you can’t change everyone’s perception of feminism, but it is worth it if you can change at least one.