As a liberal feminist, I get called ‘feminazi’ constantly. The term ‘nazi’ attached to feminist, a term that means equality between all genders, is repulsive.

‘Feminazis’ do exist in extreme cases, but to attach this term to everyone who believes in equality can cause people to be afraid to identify as a feminist when they are.

A ‘feminazi’ is a radical feminist and is a term people use to describe someone who they believe is against all men.

Many women believe in chivalry, which is fine because it’s a preference. However, I do not agree that just because I am a woman I am not able to provide for myself.

Men and women talk down to me for wanting a more independent lifestyle rather than waiting for a man to do it for me. I don’t know if it was the way I was raised, but I often hear people say ‘you do not need a man to take care of you.’ I took this as ‘I can do anything a man can do.’

Some memes on the internet make fun of feminists for example, “Feminists want equal rights until..” variations include, “wants something heavy to be lifted,” “doesn’t want women to be included in the draft” and “until she has to pay for a date.”

Some feminists, like myself, occasionally think these memes are funny, but radical feminists don’t agree.

Not all feminists believe that they should be picked for the draft, I just would want the equal right and respect to serve my country next to a man who has the same feelings.

A radical feminist would never be able to tolerate these jokes, and would spend most of their time focusing on these memes instead of focusing on the real problem. These women constantly blame men for everything. They tend to go overboard and make a scene about men in general.

I believe that women should be picked for the draft and should be open to the idea to pay for dates, because I believe women can do anything a man can.

Guys get frustrated when I offer to pay for dates. They want to pay to be nice or to ‘woo’ me. I don’t pay for dates because I am a man hater, I pay for dates because it is not fair for the guy to always pay. Especially in college – as students we don’t really have a disposable income.

“Labelling someone a feminazi publicly castigates and vilifies them and creates public perceptions that are untrue,” according to an article from The Guardian.

I understand the viewpoint of those who believe men should be the ones to take care of women, I just don’t agree with it.

Men feel the need to take care of the ‘weaker’ gender, ‘weaker’ being women.

I believe that feminism has always been used as a negative term in society. However, many people do not realize that they are feminists because they just chose not to believe it.

In the world of politics, ‘feminazis’ tend to be related to terms like ‘baby killers.’

I personally believe in pro-choice for many of reasons, but not all feminists agree with me.

Your political affiliation does not determine if you are a feminist or not, or should be associated with ‘baby killers.’

Just because you are a feminist does not mean you are a hard core liberal.

“Equal percentages of men and women said they agreed with that statement [men and women should be equal], along with 87 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of independents and 76 percent of Republicans,” according to an article by the Huffington Post.

Feminists are allowed to be on either side of the political spectrum and have their own opinions on controversial topics.

To identify every feminist as a ‘baby killer’ is not an accurate statement. As a generalization, many republicans are pro-life, so I believe feminists on that side of the spectrum aren’t baby killers.

Genetically, women get backlash as it is, just because of our anatomy.

We are judged by the ‘typical’ gender rules. Since we were young, many girls were raised to be a stay at home mothers and always keep their husbands happy. But what about a woman’s happiness? If you are happy being a stay at home mom then all power to you. But if you aren’t happy, then what is stopping you? I see many women in college wanting to find a significant other and not their major.

Anyone should have the option to do whatever they want to do. Why are some women afraid to stand up for their passions and goals? Because a man said so? What if a woman told a man that he is not allowed to his passion or achieve his goal? The sad part is we see both of these things on the daily. Feminism is not just about equality in jobs, maternity leave or the pay gap. It should be about the respect between genders. One gender should not be in complete control, but we see this in other equality subjects as well.

Feminists around the world want to stop the inequality of women. At the Economics Forum in 2015, the United Nations implemented the HeForShe initiative.

“HeForShe exemplifies UN Women’s groundbreaking leadership on gender equality,” Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director said.

Women in the UN want to see the change, are they feminazis for wanting women to become leaders to change the world? These strong women aren’t focusing on political ideologies or controversial policies in the United States. Feminism is not a movement in just the US, this is a global community wanting to see change.

“I was appointed [UN Women Goodwill Ambassador] six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating,” Emma Watson said. “If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

Feminism is not a man-hating or a baby-killing movement. This is a movement about respect and equality. We should think deeper about what this means and use it in other in-equality issues. It is time for change, so be the change you want to see.