Feminism: the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. This dictionary definition describes one of the most important movements in recent history. It also describes an egregious form of modern sexism.

Started in the nineteenth century, the feminist movement was a needed wave of logic crashing over a -- until then -- man’s world. Radicalized “suffragettes” opened fire on convention, refusing to cease until they were seen as more than property, as more than housekeepers or birth canals, as equal to men. Feminism at its height was a perfectly legitimate and necessary movement that irrevocably changed the world for the better.

Times, however, have changed. And so too have the function of feminism. And sadly, while the former was for the better, the latter was undoubtedly for the worse.

And it is not just for one reason.

The modern wave of feminism is filled with rampant sexism. Generally, when one conceives of sexism, it is against women. However, in the case of feminism, it is against men. It is not “reverse-sexism,” just as racism against white people is not “reverse-racism.” It is sexism and is just as bad when it is directed at men as when it is directed at women.

This is a product of a time when the movement was actually (and rightly) against men, a struggle by one gender against an oppressing gender. However, due to an inability of the movement to adapt to change, it has persisted into modern culture.

While there are cases of “men-haters” who permeate an unfounded hatred of men in their daily and personal lives, they are few and far between and fail to represent the majority. Rather, the sexism feminism supports is far more subtle.

Despite the fact that, according to studies done by professor Murray Straus and Dr. Richard Gelles, among others, occurrences of wives beating their husbands are relatively equal to occurrences of husbands beating their wives, one rarely sees a “husband-beater” convicted or even tried. In custody cases, women have a distinct gender-based advantage and are far likelier to win. Only men can be called to war in a draft.

And these are on top of social inequalities designating that, while women are allowed to wear “men’s” clothing and do “manly” things, any man caught in a skirt, wearing make-up or doing typically “female” things is derided as a “sissy,” told to man-up or immediately seen as gay, regardless of preference.

Now this is not the fault the feminism (rather, the fault lies on a society that has divided itself upon a gender binary since the early 20th century), but feminism has done a fair amount to take away from the cause of gender equality.

Whilst parading the need for the rights of women it has placed them above the rights of men instead of on an equal level. In the face of inequality in its favor, feminism has said nothing and continually tries to come out on top, regardless of whether it is equal or not. This is where the sexism in feminism lies, underneath the masque of women’s rights, where the advancement of feminism’s gender of choice is more important than the equality of all genders.

This also leads to great hypocrisy among feminists who vocalize equality yet enforce gender norms and inequality in their daily lives. These are the women who say “I want equality” but refuse to enter a room without a door being held open for them. Those who want to keep legal advantages over men. Those who refuse to give up any of their unfair “perks” instead of working towards equality.

Another entitlement and hypocrisy issue, and one that has only appeared recently, is that of entitlement and exclusivity in the face of people “different” from the individual in question.

An example of this is in a great number of people in the feminist movement rejecting transwomen and lesbians through bigotry, either through legal opposition or through the belief that they are “not true women” for one reason or another.

While these are not true of every single feminist, the entitlement issue is one that spreads wide across the movement and is a serious problem. Though it may start off small, it often leads to snowballing over other people’s fair right and may become nearly-unstoppable later on down the road.

The good news, however, is that most (or at the least a large amount) of people under the moniker of “feminist” do not fall into these categories. They are not sexist and they are not hypocrites, because they are not feminists and are not of the mindset addressed above.

There are some cases where semantics are unimportant, but they are of essential concern here. I bid those who are for honest equality use a different title as it would clear up confusion and reflect far better on one’s character and ethics.

Feminism in modern society necessitates a hatred of men. It helps aid in hypocrisy and creates a scapegoat for self-entitlement. It lost its social value long ago and, just as with life and death, feminism must be discarded to make way for the new.

Society must make way for equality or stop pretending that it is fighting it. It must be willing to make way for the future.

“I do not fight against men, but against the system that is sexist.” - Elfriede Jelinek