Less than a year ago, protests were held on the University of Missouri campus, as well as college campuses across the United States, by college students united in a stand together all fighting for the same thing: equality.  On the University of Missouri campus in particular, there were countless accounts of bigotry and discrimination which went unacknowledged by higher ranking positions within the university staff.  Finally tired of the refusal of the University to recognize and take action against the injustices on campus, students banded together to fight the issue and instigate change.  Actions such as a hunger strike by students and even a refusal by the entire football team to play any more games until action was taken against the inequity abundant on campus were taken as a stand to foment change on campus so students could feel safe, comfortable, and equal.

Humans of every gender, race, and nationality, of every identification, have been fighting for equality for as long as anyone can remember.  While these movements may come in various forms, all stand for something greater than a simple issue.  These movements stand for total equality, not just on a piece of paper, but in humanity's heart.  One of the most well-known movements for equality has been actively working towards the goal of both legal and social equality for centuries.  The aspects of this multiple-wave movement have had significant success which continues to grow and thrive even today.  This essential movement is the Feminist Movement, which has influentially paved the way for countless groups of all identities to unite and rise up against injustice and create a better world.  Feminism stands and fights not just for women, but for anyone who has ever been outcast, mistreated, or told who or what to be to have a place in this world.  Feminism fights for all, for equality of men and women.

When the words "feminism" or "feminist" are heard by the everyday individual, many automatically associate these words with radical, man-hating women which do not accurately represent all feminists or feminism.  This negative connotation has gone as far as to stop women from identifying as feminist as to not be associated with the negativity which surrounds feminism (Anderson).  This extremely negative connotation I believe truly comes from mass media attention to the loudest, most controversial topics and voices while not giving attention to all areas of the spectrum of issues of feminism, but also all issues in general.  While radical feminists do exist, so do radical male supremacists and misogynists, and there are a lot more individuals within the spectrum than on either of the extreme ends.  Feminism has unjustly earned a bad name for itself to so many people when feminism should be supported by all as it has evolved and grown to represent more than just women's rights but equality for all.

Feminist ideals and efforts can be traced back as far as the 15th century.  From the beginning of feminism to around the mid-1900s can be classified as the First-wave Feminist Movement.  This movement primarily focused on women's property rights, as well as women's right to vote.  The Feminist Movement did not truly start gaining momentum and an immense following and support, however, until around the 1960s when literature including books such as The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan were published.  These books were widely read by women across the United States and drew attention to the lives of women and the typical housewife, and brought into perspective the struggles and obstacles women face against their male counterparts.  Books such as these two fueled the beginning of Second-wave Feminism.  This wave focused on women's rights as well, but broadened this idea to include a larger range of issues including topics such as domestic violence, reproductive rights, and equality in the workplace.  Second-wave Feminism is also responsible for drawing the support of minority women and helping fight for issues regarding women of all ethnicities.

Sadly, Second-wave Feminism is also known for the having the first truly radical and typically frowned upon feminists, which have given feminism a continued harsh, negative connotation in so many individual's minds, discrediting feminism and its ideals even today.  Along with introducing radical feminism to the world, a large part of Second-wave Feminism contributed to allowing women to have more control over their bodies in order to create a more successful career for themselves.  This wave of feminism began making contraceptives used by women much more popular and therefore shifted a woman's focus from settling down and having a family to taking the world by storm in order to achieve her desired successful career pathway (Kooistra).  With contraceptives becoming more and more common as well as legislature such as Roe v. Wade, women were more active than ever to live life to the fullest without having to worry about a family or child to slow her down (Zurita).  Having the opportunities desired to achieve more in the world, it came as a shock that most women were more happy staying home to raise children and have a family than to be at the top of their game making tons of money as a large head of any company, leading to much unhappiness among women heavily involved in time consuming work (Kooistra).   Many children even blame their grandmothers for setting them up for failure in the future due to the advances made in Second-wave Feminism (Sheinin).  Some believe feminism should have gone to an all-inclusive movement focusing on social justice as a whole as opposed to focusing on female and male gender specifics (Valenti).

Despite all of these criticisms, relatively recently Second-wave Feminism ended around twenty-five years ago and has since been taken over and replaced by Third-wave Feminism.  This wave of feminism began around the early-1990s and continues into the present.  The beginning of Third-wave Feminism was a monumental shift in feminist history due to the fact that the wave altered the foundation of feminist ideals forever.  Previously having its main focus on purely women and women's rights, feminism became an inclusive movement defending gender identification and fighting gender roles and stereotypes (Siskind).  This change broadened the ideals of feminism extraordinarily to include more than just women, but men as well.

Although Third-wave Feminism has been active and growing for the past near twenty-five years now in its male and female equality movement, feminism is still being held back from its fullest potential.  The harsh and false feminist stereotypes which have become abundant in the world today have left a sour taste in the mouths of so many people, including the youth, who may not know any information past the radical stereotypes heard from their surroundings which could be as knowledgeable regarding feminism as the child hearing the stereotype.  The attack of feminism which has strongly developed I believe is due to not only simply negative mass media attention, but more importantly to the lack of education on the topic, allowing people to fill in the blanks of information they have as they may without true factual information which would likely change their perspective on feminists (Bagley).

Along with mass media negative coverage regarding the topic of feminism and a large lack of education of children on the ideals and stances of feminism, gender stereotypes have sadly grown much stronger in recent years and has fought against the ideals feminism has been working for through Third-wave Feminism.  One problem which may go unnoticed is the large presence of gender role stereotyping through children's toys.  Boys' toys were far more likely to represent "traditional masculine characteristics like functional clothing and the body-in-motion" while girls' toys were far more likely to include fashion centered toys (Murnen).  A large part of gender stereotypes comes from advertising by targeting the stereotypical male or female to feel lesser due to a lack of an item or a quality which they do not possess.  An outstanding example of this targeting on the male end of the spectrum is the Old Spice commercials.  One specific commercial in particular, a large extravagant scene is made of a fairly attractive, athletic, confident man addressing his audience and demanding the comparison of any men near the television during the commercial and the idealized man in the commercial (Old Spice).  Old Spice uses commercials such as these in order to make men feel like less and like they should be manlier and do manly things and smell manly in order to be confident and successful.  Commercials such as these are prime examples of how advertising targets men and not just women through gender stereotyping.  

With stereotypes flying and such a small group of truly educated individuals on feminism and its ideals, many misunderstand feminists and how most whole-heartedly purely want to achieve equality, for men and women (Anderson).  Negative connotations of feminism have blinded the public to the fact that feminism is beneficial and fights for equality for both men and women.  Many fail to see that while women have their own battles for equality to fight, men are fighting a similar war ("It's About Freedom").  Gender stereotypes have a beyond strong presence in the mass media and target more than just women.  Men are often told they should be strong and manly, or that they are not allowed to cry or show emotions, and other gender specific stereotypes to try to tell men what they should be to fit in to the world.  Feminists see these stereotypes and forces of gender roles on men as just as wrong as that women are expected to be pretty, or aspire to make a man happy.  Feminism stands against issues like these for both men and women and should be seen as such by the public, not merely as man-hating women.

Coming along with Third-wave Feminism, however, is a much stronger male following due to the strong turn in society within recent years to draw attention to wrong gender stereotypes and insensitivity to relatively new social issues such as gender identification (Bojin).  Adding a stronger male support for feminism can also be further helped through more public campaigns acknowledging the gender stereotyping which is occurring against men and advocating feminism to help work towards a solution to the problem (Zimmerman).  Feminism will not be able to continue into future years or continue to thrive and make way for much needed social and legal reform in the world without the support of both men and women.  Feminism is definitely on its way to making leaps and bounds in a forever changing society in order to make the world a better place for all.  In future years to keep momentum, feminism may expand even further to more broadly include and go after gaining more of a following by not just stopping with directly addressing men to encourage them to look into feminism and how it benefits them, but also people of all races and cultures and backgrounds and how feminism is beneficial to everyone.

