An open letter to anyone who hates feminism

Dear people who hate feminism,

I am a feminist. I know you're probably thinking "oh great, now you're just going to tell me that I'm sexist and that I don't understand what feminism is," but that is not what I am going to say. I am here to say that I totally get where you're coming from. Mainstream feminism often annoys me to no end because of its pro-government and pro-abortion views, and because it ignores the truly horrible things that happen to women (that's right, not getting free condoms isn't an injustice). I could go on and on, but I won't.
Why do I call myself a feminist? I do that for a few reasons.
First of all, I am a feminist because I strongly believe in political, social, and economic equality for men and women. I think the first wave feminists were awesome. Also, it is important to understand that there are many types of feminism, and that not all feminists are the same.
I think one of the reasons that feminism is so misunderstood is because of the way mainstream feminists view feminism: they act as if you have to have a specific set of beliefs to be a feminist, but when you say you aren't a feminist because you don't have those beliefs but that you still support equal rights, they say that you are, in fact, a feminist. Hypocrisy, much? I think the main problem with feminism is that even feminists don't understand it.
I hope that by describing myself as a feminist, I can "reclaim" feminism and help people understand what feminism is supposed to mean.
So, I completely understand why you hate feminism. However, I think that rather than rejecting feminism, maybe you should try and reclaim feminism (assuming you believe women are equal to men). Realize that, even though things have certainly improved, there is still work to be done, especially in other parts of the world. Realize that, while you don't have to be a feminist activist, you can still have beliefs that are compatible with feminism: the belief that women should be equal to men. You're probably more feminist than you think. Please consider everything I said.

--Mary