I am a feminist and I feel we really need to celebrate men who stand by us

Yes, yes the world has always been unfair towards women. Right from gender discrimination to wage gap, woman have to fight every day for their basic rights and acceptance in the society. And being a woman, it makes my blood boil.

While growing up, I had no clue what feminism was. For me, it was just a part of yet another trendy lingo. One, that most free-thinking girls my age randomly used. But, when I did grow up, I came to realize the gravity of the word, and years of struggle associated with.

After I started taking interest in topics like women rights and crimes against them, I couldn't help but feel repulsed by the thought of dating a man. I was naïve back then, and I blamed the entire gender for the misfortunes of women. Though, I hate to admit it, but I harbored
this philosophy till only a few years ago.

Due to the hate I secretly watered in my heart, maintaining a healthy relationship with any man became almost impossible for me. Moreover, I just couldn't see any good in actions of the most decent of men I came across. For me, they always had an ulterior motive for being nice.

But, now that I have had the fortune of meeting some feminist men, I am forced to alter my thinking. Yes, some men are misogynist, sexist jerks who just refuse to see women as normal human beings. And that makes easier for many women like me to hate men. But, then there are those who are equally pained at the plight of womenfolk around the world. And it's not just sympathy that they are extending; it's also their will to change things. 

A post shared by Farhan Akhtar (@faroutakhtar) on Jan 16, 2016 at 2:40am PST

Also read: 5 Aamir Khan quotes that'll make every feminist fall in love with him

And I think we need more such men, because the battle against patriarchy cannot be fought alone. Moreover, haven't we time and again established that stereotypes should be done away? For instance, if not every Muslim is a terrorist, not every baniya is stingy, and not every Bengali loves fish. Not every man is a woman-hating prick.

Aren't we as women being unfair to men, who want to fight alongside us? By belittling their efforts and claiming that they will never understand what we women go through, we are just alienating them from our cause.

So, after studying what feminism really means, I came to the conclusion that it's high time we let such men join our forces. And moreover, appreciate them for the empathy they have for every wronged woman in the world. Because united we stand and divided we fall.

Also read: Being a woman in this world means fighting to survive each day. That's why we need feminism