Columbia students stood behind a wall of mattresses, protesting university rape policy.  #YesAllWomen trended on twitter in response to the University of California, Santa Barbara misogynistic shooting.  Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” outlined a movement toward female excellence and equality in the workforce.  Emma Watson launched a global movement toward gender equality, HeforShe, at the United Nations.

These movements, protests, and re-evalutions regarding rape culture, objectification of women and misogyny, and gender equality in the workplace culminate in the third wave of feminism.

The question is not whether or not this third wave has arrived.  It has.  The question is why students have not educated themselves about, discussed, and taken a stand regarding the future of women in America and the world.

Some students, despite being educated and intelligent young women, see feminism as its various stereotypes, associating it with misandry or the aggressive, bra-burning “feminist” movement of the ‘60s.  After reading an article regarding gender roles and fulfillment in English class, juniors immediately and incorrectly associated feminism with man-hating.

In reality, feminism, defined as the “doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights equal to those of men,” by dictionary.com, aims for equality, not for female dominance or the hatred of men.  Defining feminism as anything but this movement toward equality is acquiescing to the definition provided by the mainstream media.

The media portrays feminism as a radical movement pioneered by bitter and hateful women because feminism’s true purpose undermines the media’s constant objectification and degradation of women.  The objectification and degradation are seen in its advertisements portraying women as photoshopped, sexualized objects, even blatantly as items in vending machines or as beer bottles for example, and severe lack of female lead roles, with women as the lead only 12 to 15 percent of the time in major movies according to huffingtonpost.co.uk.  Students should recognize and reject this blatant masking of a movement toward equality the very industry equality threatens and consider feminism’s true purpose instead.

After redefining feminism correctly in the Sion community, students should research and join the national debate regarding rape culture and objectification of women.  During a Maison discussion of dress codes, the phrase “boys will be boys” was repeatedly used as justification for stricter dress policies for girls in schools without uniforms.

Why are males given a free pass to objectify a woman based on the clothes she wears?  When will American society stop making excuses for this objectification?  Students should ponder these questions before perpetuating the idea that the way a woman dresses might validate her degradation.

While not all students should or will agree on the value of feminism, all students do share a responsibility to educate themselves on feminism’s true definition and continue to fight for women’s rights in the United States and throughout the world.  As part of the nominal 30 percent of girls enrolled in secondary school worldwide according to dayofthegirl.com and as Americans, students are lucky enough to have the tools, such as the freedoms to research, be educated, and express an opinion, to inform themselves and create positive change.  Now is the time to take full advantage of these tools.