Just the other day, a friend of mine conducted a sort of poll via Facebook message. She sent the message to 20 girls and asked, “Do you consider yourself a feminist?” Of the responses I’ve seen so far, the answer has overwhelmingly been “no.”

Do these young women know that feminism is the belief that women should have political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights equal to those of men? Fortunately for us living here in the United States, those rights have mostly been realized. That doesn’t mean we should take them for granted. We shouldn’t think all the work is done. And we shouldn’t reject the social and political movements of the past that brought us the equality we enjoy today.

Women may be mostly equal to men socially and otherwise, but there is still a disconnect between the ideal vision and what actually goes on. In 1920, women gained the right to suffrage under the 19th Amendment, but there’s still a difference in the way political candidates are treated. Women in politics are still heavily scrutinized, in a way that men are not. Whether you’re a Hillary Clinton fan or not, phrases like “hellish-housewife” and “she-devil” littered her campaign trail in a way no other candidates experienced.

Ariel Levy, in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, suggests that feminism experienced its greatest division with the rise of the sex industry. The result was a shift toward women being more sexually provocative; this new freedom usurped the fight for general liberation.

Freedom to be a pornstar is not a real freedom, but a distraction from what is truly important. The fight against this idea of the freedom to bare skin is probably what led to the perception that feminism is the ugly woman’s anger and jealousy toward the beautiful girls’ success.

Hence, the average college girl’s understanding of feminism as dichotomous. Either you are sexually liberated and are not a feminist, or you are anti-sexuality and are a feminist. There is no room left for what a healthy model of female sexuality should look like, only a sense that the seemingly-prohibitive view is not something to be associated with.

That being said, while women should have equal rights, sexually or otherwise, women are not and should not be just like men. The problem is that feminism is perceived as women’s quest to take over men’s roles. There’s a reason why men and women were created differently: They each have different roles, attitudes and ways of contributing. The world needs them both.

Feminism is no longer about joining a group or rallying in Red Square. It’s about equality, not sameness. It’s about being able to run for president and being treated with legitimacy. It’s about a healthy perception of sexuality. It’s about expecting that you and your male co-worker be paid the same wage. It’s about compromise and about a state of mind. So when you get asked the question, don’t be afraid to talk about equality, and don’t be afraid to call yourself a feminist.

Reach opinion editor Natalie Sikavi at opinion@dailyuw.com.