“I am not a feminist,” I said. I was completely sure of myself.

Feminists hate men. Feminists are only women. Feminists are strong, aggressive, and vengeful. Right?

So I thought. As my peers have called me bossy, whispered about how manly I was for playing softball and scoffed at my assertive nature in my classes, I wanted nothing to do with the isolating term that is “feminism.”

However, upon hearing British actor Emma Watson speak before the United Nations on behalf of the HeForShe campaign, I had a change of heart and mind.

To my surprise, a feminist is a person who believes in equal rights for every person, male or female. The support of feminism from both men and women is the only way that we can achieve full equality.

The Wrecker football players, the Staples Players, the people chatting in the cafeteria, the girls and boys studying in the library, the seniors cheering on the tables during spirit week are all able to play a part in this advancement toward equality.

“If we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer,” Watson said.

Watson also addresses that feminism is not restricted to women, as there is a “distorted sense of what constitutes male success” and acknowledges that “men don’t have the benefits of equality, either.”

I suddenly recall my little brother asking me if he is a sissy for smelling flowers, for watching marathons of Gossip Girl with me, for crying when he loses a football game, out of insecurity that he isn’t a mold of his supposed gender role.

Feminism is really a two way street that too many view as a one-way; “If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled,” Watson claimed.

Today, I say, “I am a feminist.”

I am a combination of subtly sweet and punchily sour. I am a proud former softball player, a pink and red nail-polish wearer, a puppy lover and a Red Sox fan. I am a high but mighty voice that’s not afraid to speak out, and I am a feminist.