By Katia Brunson

Opinion Assistant 

Hide your bras — the feminists are coming.

The term “feminism” has been somewhat of a taboo in Western culture, and for people living in many other parts of the world, it’s completely unheard of. The oppression of women manifests itself differently all over the world, but in the case of Western society, some individuals are not fully aware of its presence on a daily basis. Many men and women argue that gender equality does exist in America today when, in fact, we are far from tackling the perpetual disadvantages of our society’s gender stereotypes.

The theory of “anti-feminism” is the belief that women’s disadvantages in society are exaggerated or non-existent, or assumes that feminists seek to oppress men. It is an ideology that has recently been popularized by a blog on Tumblr entitled “womenagainstfeminism.tumblr.com.”

On this blog, women send in pictures of themselves holding up signs explaining why they don’t agree with feminism or why they choose not to be a feminist. The common denominator that holds true through each one of these women’s arguments is that they are arguing against beliefs that differ from feminism.

The term feminism is defined in the dictionary as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of political, social and economic equality to men.” In recent decades, the term feminism gained a lot of attention due to the Women’s Liberation Movement, which originated during the 60s and 70s. Many feminists prefer to cite a definition that comes from feminist theory and/or feminist writers such as bell hooks, whose definition says that “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.”

This movement launched awareness for issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence; all of which are issues still being dealt with today.

So why all the animosity towards feminists? Somewhere along the line, society has convinced many people that women in the Western world are “out of the woods” in the sense that we have reached the equal treatment that men are born with. In reality, there are only 79 women out of the 435 members that make up the U.S. House of Representatives, and only 20 out of 100 make up the Senate. Pay inequality still exists, and even in the year 2014, some men grow up believing that they are entitled to women’s bodies. This results in issues such as cat-calling, sexual assault and rape, which in some cases are classified as socially acceptable or deemed the woman’s fault.

Society needs feminism because women are tired of not being taken seriously and feeling that they constantly have to apologize for the way they act, the way they dress, their sexuality, their ideas and their bodies.

“Womenagainstfeminism” have got it all wrong. Feminism is not about burning bras or shaming women who enjoy cooking for their significant other. It’s not about hating men or playing the victim card. It’s about challenging society’s expectations of women and being who you are without having to apologize for it. It’s about the social justice that comes with equality. It’s about taking pride in celebrating how great it is to be a woman in every beautiful shape, bra size and lifestyle choice they come in.