Let’s face it: the 2016 presidential election, in many ways, is an absolute joke. Instead of opening the New York Times to be greeted by reactions from a recent GOP debate, I’m flooded by Trump’s latest Twitter insults that are offensive to virtually every type of person. When I open YouTube, instead of a highlight reel from a democratic debate, I see yet another SNL video trending of Larry David acting as Bernie Sanders.

Through all of the internet traffic (and my constant confusion as to why Trump is a candidate), I haven’t been able to truly choose a candidate I want to support as president.

However, when I watched Gloria Steinem tell women that there “was a special place in hell” for them if they didn’t vote for Hillary, I was extremely confused and saddened by the negative and inaccurate connotation she had given to feminism.

The central concept of feminism is that women should be equal to men, and therefore their gender should not determine who one votes for. Obliging women to vote for Hillary solely because they are females is basically reverse objectifying them, and is actually quite sexist.

That being said, feminism principles imply that that women should be able to vote for whichever candidate they want to vote for, regardless of their gender.

Obviously, I am the first to admit that having a woman president would be one of the most empowering and progressive moves in history to ever happen, however forcing women to vote solely based off of one’s biological chromosomes is completely unfair.

If we want equality for women, then let women choose the candidate they want to see in the White House.

Even though I will not be able to vote, I would never base my decision solely off of the basis that women are obliged to vote for other women, which I hope other feminists will express as well.