I am a feminist. Does that statement make your blood pressure rise a notch?

I wouldn’t be surprised, because there are some blatantly bad vibes associated with that terrible f-word lately.

Did you think I must be a man-hating, radical, leftist, liberal, socialist, communist, pro-abortion, anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-children, lesbian, pagan, bitch with PMS who doesn’t shave her legs and thinks affirmative action should guarantee her a job just because she’s a woman?

If so, you were wrong — although I try not to shave my legs too often. See, feminism has a very different meaning in my book.

I could throw a bunch of textbook definitions at you, but you can look those up yourself. I’ll just give you a few of my favorites.

“Feminism is the radical proposition that women are human beings,” says one t-shirt slogan.

In 1913, Rebecca West said, “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.”

Basically, a feminist believes women have been oppressed in the past, and something should be done about it.

Can we all agree women have been oppressed? No? Can we agree that sexism is a sham? Do you really believe women are making it all up just for fun?

Maybe you think you don’t have to worry about it because sexism doesn’t affect you.

I beg to differ. Sexism is a part of all our lives. You’ve probably all heard the song about Barbie that’s popular right now. Did you know Mattel was actually mad because they thought the song was degrading to Barbie? Yes, degrading to Barbie.

You should all know this already, but let me reiterate that if Barbie was a living, breathing, to-scale human being, she would tip over. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

One of my pet peeves is “women’s” magazines. The last time I picked up a “Redbook,” I decided to put it down — and quickly.

According to the ads and articles, the most important things women should be worried about are their hair, make-up, clothes and weight. You might say they almost had me convinced about weight, because I felt like puking after reading that magazine.

But magazines aren’t the only offenders. You might not know it, but there was a Women’s National Basketball Association championship a few weeks ago.

I can understand why you might have missed it, since it was relegated to the fourth page of the Register’s sports section.

Sexism is everywhere, including our schools. My mom found a blurb in our high school’s daily announcements telling girls they had to wear a dress to a certain school awards ceremony.

When I was in high school, I didn’t OWN a dress. Moreover, I didn’t WANT to own a dress. So why should I, or any other female, have to wear one?

You’re also going to find sexism in the workplace. This summer, my sister worked at a law firm in Des Moines. There, the male lawyers included the men, but never the women, on their golf outings. I guess they just assumed women wouldn’t want to play. What, women don’t play golf?

You’re going to make mistakes if you make generalizations about people.

Hey, sorry about the blood pressure. But somebody has to point a few of these things out once in a while. I’m not saying men are evil. We’re all socialized to believe that women are “the weaker sex.”

I just hope you will find, as some of my women’s studies classmates did, that my definition makes sense — that you can call yourself a feminist.

You don’t have to be a “bra burner” to be a feminist; you just have to believe women are people and not some type of “other.”

After all, there are many different kinds of feminists.

Some of them even shave twice a day.

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Catherine Conover is a junior in liberal studies from Mapleton.