An anti-feminist movement is on the rise, and they cleverly call themselves “meninists.” This group takes to social media with #Meninism to express the hardships of being a man in the 21st century.

Meninism gained a following in late 2014 due to social media. The  movement began as a satirical one that poked at double standards prevalent in society. But what originally started off as a joke has now spiraled into a highly offensive and misogynistic movement.

Many argue that this is comedy, but I cannot find humor in misogyny when there are so many oppressed people around the world. It is easy and often comical to poke fun at the radical feminist, but the meninist movement, much like society, is attempting to belittle the entire feminist movement.

Often the feminism is ignored because individuals feel comfortable or see no wrong in their own environments. But it is not okay when one in four women in the U.S. will experience sexual assault during her college career. When 8,233 women in India were killed by “dowry deaths” in 2012. When women work 67% of hours worked in the world, but only earn 10% of the world’s income. When 72% of hate crimes were committed against transgender women in 2013, and 90% of whom were women of color.

Although modern feminism has modified its cause, the stigma attached to being a feminist remains the same. Calling oneself a feminist somehow equates to a bra-burning man-hater.

In a recent interview with TIME, Divergent actress, Shailene Woodley was asked if she would consider herself a feminist, to which she responded, “No, because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance.”

Balance? Like, equality? The exact foundation in which feminism was built upon?

Singer/songwriter Taylor Swift refutes the feminist title by telling The Daily Beast she is not a feminist because, “ I don’t really think of it as guys versus girls”… “ I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you work as hard as guys, you can go far in life.”

Even here Swift demonstrates underlying sexist values found in much of society. As if women do not work as hard as men in today’s society.

These celebrities, and often times the general public, are entirely misinformed about the feminist movement. And meninism is not helping.

Feminists do not hate men.

Feminists do not wish to place women above men.

Feminists do not want to abandon all femininity and adapt masculinity.

Simply put, feminists want equality, and that applies to everyone. Equality for women, men, LGBT, rich, and poor. They dream of a society in which everyone is treated equally and is given equal opportunity.

Until equality is prevalent across the globe, feminism is a valid and paramount movement that does not warrant mockery.