By Jacqueline Robinson

Contributor

We cannot ignore the fact that women’s voices are still consistently marginalized.

But to hold that feminism belongs only to women, or that only women can be feminists, creates brash assumptions, ostracizes enormous number of supporters and implies that anyone who isn’t a woman cannot support the same ideas that we as women strive for everyday.

How are we to advocate for women’s equality, justice and optimism if we are being prejudiced about who can advocate? To deny someone the right or opportunity to act under a feminist label simply because of his or her gender identity or sexuality goes against the rudimentary ideals of the cause. Since everyone has his or her own right to define “feminism,” stating that the word itself is not all-inclusive is counterintuitive. Each individual, each person, decides to put their own definition to the word “feminism.”

Some honor the word, others use it as an insult. No matter how an individual chooses to utilize the term, I think the freedom to make the word yours is the beauty of feminism. Feminism doesn’t define, mold or break, rather, it bends. There is feminism in all of us, whether we choose to embrace it or not. With campaigns like HeForShe that “brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of humanity, for the entirety of humanity,” we are now taking proactive measures to bridge the gaps between women and men that have divided us for centuries.