Many times, humorous images that say what we expected 2024 to be like and what it actually is appear in my feed on social media. They show flying cars, state-of-the-art buildings, robot assistants, an image that really has nothing to do with what we live in today. It’s true, at the speed things were moving 25 years ago, we’d expect that today, after so long, the world would have progressed further.

And then I think: We discuss not having a flying car or a robot making us coffee in the morning when have we still not succeeded in changing the problematic ideas that “built” the world as it is today? Am I missing a science fiction reality when I have yet to secure the obvious, to move around and feel safe?

Among everything we are trying to change, what we would humorously call the “battle of the sexes” plays a fatal role. It’s no joke, though, and it becomes even more serious when I talk to people in groups and social gatherings and realize how misunderstood concepts like feminism are. How misinformation has managed to maintain a divide between men and women that, in reality, serves neither side.

And where you think it is obsolete to repeat what you consider self-evident, society comes to prove you wrong. So let’s take it one more time, from the beginning: Dear all, feminism does not communicate the idea of ​​women dominating men in society, but it envisions a life of equal opportunity and equal treatment. Feminists don’t hate men. In fact, they don’t even focus on anyone else, but on highlighting their own worth within society. Dear men, no one wants to destroy you. After all, we all have men in our lives that we love, deeply and truly.

And now an important question: Are those who fight feminism on the favorable side of the existing order and feel threatened by the idea that something might change and overturn their dominance? Could it be that this whole war against feminism serves this very purpose, after all?

But there is also the other side: Those who attack the idea of ​​feminism end up affirming its value. There is no more effective way to highlight the gender inequality that still exists within society than to abuse, threaten, diminish or reject a woman.

The image of men fighting feminism is not surprising. What is really inexplicable is women attacking women. Women who don’t recognize that they are unrecognized, that they are not valued, that they are underestimated, that they live a life inferior to the one they deserve and the one they could and mock those who claim something better. This fact remains for us a true mystery.

And this paradox is followed by another: The relevant research dispels the widespread stereotype that feminism is equated with misandry. According to the data, feminists have an overall positive attitude towards men, scoring high on the scale examining feelings of warmth, sympathy and trust. In fact, feminists and non-feminists differed little in their attitudes toward men. But when the survey asked people to state how positively or negatively they thought feminists felt about men, they gave a completely wrong picture, portraying a much more negative attitude than they actually did.

In the end, dear everyone, it is not so difficult to understand: Feminism does not fight the male gender, but its tendency to dominate, to impose, to oppress. Feminists don’t hate men, they hate inequality. They do not wish to subjugate anyone. They are just claiming the life they deserve. And, as they fight for a fairer tomorrow, they still adore the men in their lives.