If you feel threatened by feminism, it’s time for you to get a grip.

I have spent the past two weeks completely immersed in what I consider to be the pits of the Internet: message boards that focus on the oppression of men by feminism.

While my gut instinct is to completely discredit every point they make, doing so would deny that misandry exists, which is not true.

Misandry, according to Merriam-Webster, is a hatred of men. Just like misogyny, I have witnessed misandry taking place.

However, to blame feminism on what puerarchy.com calls “the under(valuing) of men,” and thus the moral degradation of society is pure nonsense.

The variety of resources that I’ve read on the topic love to point out the divorce rate and custody rate.

I have heard it time and again that divorce is on the rise thanks to feminism. The feminist movement began more than 200 years ago, not in the 1960s when the divorce rate was on the rise.

Even if this was the case, that feminism caused the divorce rate to rise, I have three words: Get it, girl.

Women have spent too much of history being shamed into relationships they don’t want to be in because culture demands it. If feminism grants even one woman the power to leave a crappy relationship, I say rise on, divorce rates.

On the message boards I’ve read, posters point out the custody rate as being a sign that men are oppressed.

As far as custody is concerned,  18.3 percent of custodial parents were fathers, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. If you look back through the censuses over the years, you’ll find that the number of fathers with custody is on the rise.

If feminism is only becoming more prominent, then shouldn’t the numbers of females who have custody of children be on the rise?

Thanks to feminism, this is not true. For hundreds of years, it is been perpetuated that women are responsible for taking care of the children in a relationship.

Not only is male custody on the rise, but stay-at-home fathers are becoming more popular as more women feel comfortable going out into the work force. Thanks, feminism!

Misogynists fear that women no longer need to rely on men. They fear that women will no longer date the alpha males, and their power will lead them toward the beta or submissive males who are evolutionarily inferior.

These fears are silly.

You can’t define your existence by another person, or another gender. Relying on women, or men, to give you purpose will leave your life hollow and unfilled regardless of who you are.

What seems to me misunderstood by many of these people is that feminism does not just benefit women. Feminism’s constant desire to break down traditional gender roles opens up diverse worlds for both men and women to choose what they would like to do, free of antiquated cultural norms.

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