Over the last fifteen years, I’ve realized that I am a feminist. I’m not sure what the “revised” definition now means, from everything I’ve gathered it has a negative connotation. But I would like to tell you how I define it.

While in college, I took this course that I can’t remember the name of, but it was about feminism and how the term came into existence. It started way, way, way back in history with the pagan goddess. I don’t remember much about that part of the class, except that I didn’t fully buy the hooey the teacher was spewing. However, by the end of the semester she’d moved on to the current atmosphere of feminism. At the time it was the late nineties and she said, “feminism is a movement that is trying to help societies create equal rights for all people–men and women.” It was that moment that she convinced me I was a feminist. Because deep in my core exists a value that defines almost everything I do. I believe all people deserve the same rights.

All people.

If you feel the same way then the marriage law isn’t convoluted because either you believe all people have the right to marry the person they love or you don’t. Religion doesn’t play a factor in it. It’s a legal right that the majority of the people in this country have and therefore if you believe in equality, people who love the same gender should also have that right.

As another example, consider the sliding payscale in the workforce. Women still make a lower dollar amount then their male counterparts in the same position. And if you are an African-American women, you make far less than an African-American male, a white female, or white male.  If you believe in equality, then as long as the candidates have the same qualifications, their pay should be the same.

These are just a few examples. Our society has so many more issues where people are discriminated based on their age, gender, ethnic background, disability, and etc. A true feminist wants to eliminate that discrimination.