Editor’s Note: Luke Johnson is a current senior at Johnston High School. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

Dear Editor,

Being a student at an extremely wealthy high school in rural America, I obviously have a very biased view. But I would like to share my opinions on feminism. I agree with the ideas of the feminist movement-political, social, and economic equality of women to men-but what I do not agree with are the questionable means by which the movement goes about achieving those goals. Yes there is a glass ceiling that needs to be destroyed; yes, statistically, more women are abused than men; and yes we do need to fight for the women that are being deprived and objectified. However, there is no reason for you to fight our biological behaviors as our individual and separate genders by trying to conform us all to the same standards; and no there is no reason for you to label everything that goes wrong in your life either directly or indirectly caused by a man as another reason that you “need feminism.” Let me elaborate. I understand we all have insecurities, some more than others. And for me, it seems as though the feminist movement is used by many women as an escape from their personal issues. So they go home, isolate themselves in their rooms from all the men/problems in the world, spice up their particularly mundane lives and join this Twitter cult of unknowledgeable feminazis that come up with some new way for their own kind to be offended every time a man tries to fulfill the gender role that he was raised to assume. These are the women that make the movement look bad. They’re the few that give a bad rep to the rest of the movement. And I’m sorry women, maybe it’s some stupid guy thing, but I have a tendency to base people off of those that they associate with. So until the goals are legitimized, and the members are mentally capable to comprehend those goals, the movement will seem to have this aforementioned reputation. Now don’t get confused; I’m not saying that this IS the feminist movement. What I’m saying is that some members of the feminist movement are taking this universal advocacy for equal rights and turning it into a pitied outcry of privileged suburban girls with way too much time on their hands.

This is why it’s so hard for people like me to take the movement seriously. Every time I see a #YesAllWomen followed by some ignorant, inapplicable saying dissing on men, I think to myself, so this movement claimed to broaden the rights of both genders is going against their own views by hating on the very people (men) that they need in order for their contradictory and flat out confusing movement to succeed. Makes perfect sense to me. If you guys (whoops I mean girls) are going to campaign for our (men’s) rights too, then please get the whole movement on board, and support your words with your actions. And do not blame me for having these conceptions, for I have observed members of the movement and have come to this consensus. I’m merely putting into words what the silent majority has concluded.

In my opinion, we are in too deep to develop a new breed of humankind that differs only in their anatomy. No matter how hard we try, no matter how many glass ceilings we shatter with our unisex hammers, there will always be a difference between how men and women are treated. Whether that be good, bad, or indifferent, men and women will never be the same.

So bravo women (and men), I admire your drive in the feminist movement. It’s now become a common subject of debate, and no attention is bad attention. The movement will continue despite the inconsistencies, and that’s OK. I truly agree with many of the movement’s points of interest; specifically the undeserved economic advantage that wrongly still exists, and the principle of speaking up for the women in countries that have no voice at all. Now let me restate what I’m trying to convey one more time in case you guys (girls) missed it: I agree with the ideas of the feminist movement-political, social, and economic equality of women to men-but what I do not agree with are the questionable means by which the movement goes about achieving those goals. So my only advice to you if you’re a feminist is this: be intelligent (if possible), be coherent, be open-minded, and by God please get the goals of your movement together so that for once us men can actually understand what women want.

Luke Johnson

P.S. I took the liberty of highlighting the important parts for you.