Ninety-five years before senior Samantha Cunningham turned 18, feminists fought for her right to vote. Seventy-six years before she got a job, feminists fought for her equality during the hiring process as a woman. Eighteen years before she applied to college, feminists fought for her acceptance to public universities despite her gender. But though feminism is dedicated to ensuring her equality in society, it is not a movement that Cunningham will fight for.

“I am fine with the idea of gender equality, but I don’t agree with what feminism has turned that into,” Cunningham said. “I think that (people) have made it super extreme, and they have changed and molded the definition into something different (than what it is). I’m not going to say that I’m a feminist until feminists change how they represent the feminist community.”

The demise of feminism and rise of gender equality is an idea that is mirrored for many in today’s society. Feminism’s unpopularity is rising, according to a poll recently published by TIME Magazine where readers were asked to choose the word they wished to ban in the year 2015. Before the poll was taken down due to complaints, “feminism” won with over 40% of votes. Meanwhile, gender equality is receiving much more appraisal, according to  a Huffington Post study which reported that 82 percent of those surveyed agreed in equality between men and women politically, socially and economically. Although the two concepts each support equality between the sexes, the distinction between the two is growing as gender equality gains the support that feminism is losing.

Attached Connotations

According to Oxford Dictionaries, the definition of gender equality is “the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender.” In turn, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.”

Cunningham said that the simplicity of gender equality makes it an easier choice to support than feminism. Because “equality” is a recognizable word, she said gender equality is a more recognizable idea.

“So much of our history has been based on freedom and equality,” she said. “When we broke (off) from England, it was because we wanted to be free. Throughout the Civil War and slavery, everything dealt with equality. I think we’re so used to history leading up to everyone being equal and having equal chances that people are able to accept the words ‘gender equality’ because we’re used to hearing the word ‘equality’ in America.”

Dr. Tracey Boisseau, the Director of Women’s Studies at Purdue University, said she concurs with the idea that gender equality has been well-received partially because “equality” is a word few people can refute.

She said, “The word ‘equality’ is so important in American culture that it’s extremely difficult, politically, to stand against equality. However it is meant or whatever context it’s being used in, very few people are going to say that they’re not for equality.”

Haley Glickman, junior and self-proclaimed feminist, said she believes that the main difference between the two ideas is that fact that feminism has lost its simplicity. She said that the baggage that feminism carries allows people to view it differently.

“It’s fear,” she said. “The word, ‘feminism’ has become so tarnished that people say, ‘Is it really worth fighting for to label myself as a feminist when I can just say ‘gender equality’ and no one will call me on it?’ People might cheer if I say ‘gender equality’ but they might lynch me if I say I’m a feminist. It’s become that bad of a word. (Gender equality) really is the easy way out. It’s just easier and it doesn’t have any negative connotations with it. It hasn’t been tarnished yet. The more you become educated on what feminism really is, the more you understand it simply. It’s just equality. We want equality in all aspects to men. It’s just an education problem that people need to educate themselves and then they’ll understand that it’s not a bad word. It’s not the F-word. It’s a good thing; it’s a great idea.”

The kinds of connotations that Glickman suggests are exactly what Cunningham said that she sees with feminism. Because she sees the movement as more than its definition, Cunningham has a different perspective of feminism than Glickman.

She said, “With feminism, it sounds like you’re giving women the superior status and taking it away from men. But with gender equality, it looks like you’re benefiting both genders. The actual term ‘gender equality’ just sounds like everyone is treated fairly rather than men having to give up power to equate to the status of women. So then women need help reaching the same status as men, or men need to give up power to receive the same status as women. That’s why I look at feminism negatively compared to gender equality. To me, feminism says a power struggle and gender equality says we are all equal in nature.”

Boisseau said people who dissociate themselves with feminism frequently share this view.

“Why many people are going to say they’re not feminists or say that they’re against feminism or that they have a negative impression of feminism is usually because they don’t think feminism is about equality between the sexes,” she said. “They think feminism is about women being ahead of men because feminism has the root ‘fem’ in it. They usually interpret it to mean women are advocating that women should have something that men don’t have. They should be given more opportunities or they should be held to a different standard or have more power or something like that.  That’s not my point of view, I’m a feminist. I believe that feminism asks for a sense of equality.”

Radical Supporters

On top of the many different connotations feminism holds, Cunningham said she sees many different types of feminists. Although she said she doesn’t mind some feminists, it is the ones who believe the most radical concepts that dissuade her from joining the movement.

“Sometimes extreme actions are needed but I think when it becomes crude, that kind of stuff I don’t think is right. You can take it far, but to an extent and they’re stepping over that line,” she said. “These kinds of movements aren’t appealing to people. They’re awkward and they don’t send a very good light on feminism and when I see people doing radical things, I’m less likely to support them.”

One such demonstration that Cunningham cites is the “Potty-Mouth Princess” video. In this video, young girls dressed in princess costumes drop swear words for two and half minutes in order to draw attention to society’s sexism, according to the video’s channel. Cunningham said that because she does not agree with the kind of feminists who created the video, she chooses not to agree with the entire movement. She said that if she joined the feminist movement, she would feel obligated to have these kinds of radical beliefs and be involved in these kinds of demonstrations.

“I view myself as a Christian but there are people who (believe in) radical Christianity that I don’t agree with. If I wasn’t a Christian, I wouldn’t want to become one seeing these radical Christians and so I think with the radical feminists, people are turned off by them because they’re like, ‘I don’t want to have to do that or be that extreme or go that far.’”

Even as a pronounced feminist, Glickman blames these same kinds of demonstrations for feminism’s unpopularity. Although Glickman said these campaigns are often not an accurate representation of feminism as a whole, the media chooses to highlight the feminists who speak the loudest or make the biggest waves.

She said, “It really has become such a negative word because (of) the people who make vast generalizations like all men are blank. These people are the ones who have gotten the most attention from the media therefore they have become what is associated with feminism and now it’s becoming a taboo word.”

By contrast, supporters of gender equality refute these sorts of radical campaigns, including UN Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson. In a speech she delivered to the UN in September, she said these sorts of anti-men campaigns are precisely what gender equality refutes.

She said, “The more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

Because gender equality does not have the same radical supporters that feminism does have, Cunningham said it is a more appealing idea to her.

The Call to Action

According to Boisseau, feminism is also viewed negatively because of the idea that it is closely connected to politics and a political call to action. She said that if people are not comfortable being politically active, they are most likely not comfortable with the idea of feminism.

“Feminism suggests a kind of activism as a moral imperative, that it is incumbent on you, it is your responsibility to be politically active,” she said. “Since a lot of people don’t feel that they want to be politically active or that they even know how to be, they shy away from the term feminism. They think that if they were to be a feminist that they would have to be involved politically, be engaged politically, be activists, or do something about it.”

Because Cunningham said she does see feminism as a political commitment, it is harder for her to accept it.

“The other thing I don’t like about feminists is that they say as women we need to unite,” she said. “They look at women as a whole, and personally, I don’t feel responsible for any other woman in this world, just like I don’t feel personally responsible for any other man in this world. When you feel passionate about something, then you stand up and fight for it and try to find change, but as a group of women, as a whole, I don’t think it’s an obligation, and I feel like feminists make it an obligation to stand against (oppression). I think everyone will tell you that they want to fight (oppression) but when you look at it, (a lot of them) don’t do anything. Yes, there are people fighting. but here I am, and I’m not doing anything about it. I feel like a lot of women think we should stand up for (gender equality), but they just don’t.”

In contrast, Glickman cites the history of political activism as to why she is a feminist. Because of the perseverance women before her have shown, she said she feels obligated to be believe in feminism in addition to gender equality.

“I stand behind the word feminism because of what it is built upon. You have to go back and you have to look at early feminists,” she said. You look at Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and (the people) who built feminism and who had to struggle admittedly more and exponentially more than I did. You look at Alice Paul, who had a bunch of hunger strikes and organized parades, and that was in the early 1900s. You even look at Kathleen Hanna and all these brilliant women who stood behind the word. You have to stand behind the word. It’s not going to be easy, but you have to stand behind the word. You cannot take the easy road out in feminism because you’re alienating all those women who stood before you and fought so hard, who didn’t have the right to vote who were forced to stay in the kitchen. You have to stand behind that word. It is a call to action.”

Boisseau also gives her own reasons why she believes in feminism and in the activism behind it.

“Saying you’re for the equality between the sexes doesn’t necessarily admit you to doing anything about it,” she said. “Whereas you might say you’re for gender equality but you might at the same time already think there is gender equality, or you’re for it but you don’t necessarily have to do anything about it. That’s not my point of view, I’m a feminist. I think there’s a problem. I think that problem is patriarchy, and I think that it is all of our responsibilities to undo that problem, to undermine patriarchy and to establish equality between the sexes. I personally am not afraid of the word and use it to describe myself, but I understand why other people don’t.”

The differences that society sees between feminism and gender equality are a matter of perception, simply how one chooses to look at each idea. For Glickman, she chooses to look beyond the wordy definitions and the numerous connotations to see a bigger picture.

She said, “People want to call it something else because it’s just been so tarnished that they don’t want to associate themselves with it, and you just can’t do that. It would be disrespectful to change it. I think it’s undereducated people who want to change the word because they don’t want to associate themselves with negative connotation, because once you learn what it’s all about and who you stand behind in this word, you’ll stand proudly. I’m proud of all those women who call themselves feminists. If you want to laugh or roll your eyes or think less of me, go ahead. I still think highly of myself because I know what I’m talking about, and I know what I stand behind, and it is feminism.”