bad girls do it well

I'd like to start this entry off by saying that I don't know much about feminism. It's not like I haven't known that feminism is about female rights and what not, but no one has ever told me what the definition of feminism is and what feminists stand for . So I apologize if I seem ignorant but that is because, well, I am ignorant on this topic.

 

The big question for me is - are there different kinds of feminists? Because while I've been flirting with the idea of calling myself a feminist for ages, I then get confronted with really hardcore feminists who just make me think, okay, maybe I'm not a feminist.

 

What does being a feminist mean? Because the way I've always understood it is that you want equality. That you just want the female sex to be equal to the male sex once and for all. And that you want equality without being given any kind of special treatment, like for example work-related quotas where firms are forced to hired a certain amount of women. That you don't want to be treated as an inferior sex object but as a real living person whose body does not need to be sexualized through cat calling, ass grabbing and other kinds of harrassment. 

 

I have no idea if I'm right about any of that stuff, this is just what I always understood feminism as. But as I said, sometimes I run into feminists who are just so hardcore that I'm unsure whether my ideas of feminism are wrong. 

 

Another thing I've been thinking about is the whole pulling chair out / opening door thing.. Being a feminist, does this mean you don't want to be 'treated like a lady' and have your chair pulled out for you? Because, I mean, I would love to have my chair pulled out for me or have someone open the door for me - not because I'm a woman but because I like to be treated nicely. You know?

 

I'm just really ignorant on this topic, although I'm trying to educate myself by reading a few books and what not. I would love to call myself a feminist because I feel like I am - but I don't feel like I know enough to actually call myself that. I don't know. It's just something I've been thinking about for a while.