My name is Megan, and I’m a feminist.

Before you assume I burn my bras, refuse to shave my legs and hate all women who work to keep a household running, hear me out.

Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance was amazing and powerful for its all-woman show, despite many of the ads shown before and after working to chip away at the positive female image she presented.

So no, I do not think choosing to wear a leotard on stage is a horrid way to promote female empowerment.

I do think women have a ways to go before they are equal to men.

The first definition of “feminism” in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, and a variation of the answer I received from most students I interviewed in the Quad earlier this week is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.”

If we take the definition at face value, everyone should be a feminist, right?

According to University students, wrong.

None of the females or males identified themselves as feminists, even though, as kinesiology freshman Brielle Dogan pointed out, feminists are not required to be female.

They can be all types of people who “stand up for women’s rights,” Dogan said.

She proceeded to deny being a feminist.

Her reasoning? A feminist is also someone who pays attention to social inequalities.

Plenty of reasonably well-educated college students and professionals are on this campus. You would think some of us would outwardly be unafraid to put ourselves in the category of those who stand up for women’s rights after growing up in a world where sexism is one of many harmful norms.

We all read the stories about wage gaps and listened to Mitt Romney talk about his “binders full of women.” Even in our own school, the ratio of female to male faculty members is 155 to 81, according to the 2010 LSU Employee Assistance Plan.

If these instances are not enough to convince you to join the feminist ranks, here are some numbers. In the United States, 91 percent of rape victims are female and 99 percent of rapists are male, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

And as far as the media is concerned, look no further than our Super Bowl ads.

MissRepresentation.org set up a hashtag on Twitter — NotBuyingIt — for people to tweet with attention to ads that promote sexism.

After Sunday, Audi’s “Seize the Moment” and GoDaddy’s “Perfect Match” took first and second in a contest of most-tweeted-about ads (negatively, of course) on their website.

“Seize the Moment’s” glorification of male privilege through stealing a kiss from the adoring Prom Queen is wrong. If you didn’t see that at first glance, your subconscious certainly picked up on it.

“Perfect Match” reinforced traditional gender stereotypes by continuing to hardwire us to accept that feminine attractiveness never holds enough smarts to operate alone.

Thank goodness for the hashtag’s making these points more obvious. Maybe if people like Dogan found tools like this, they would be more willing to call themselves feminists.

Feminism is not the condemnation of females for choosing to stay home and raise children; to never marry and pursue a career as a lawyer; or to work as a saleswoman after her children grow up and leave the house.

What I just described is hate.

And if any so-called feminist thinks it’s getting anyone anywhere, he or she is sadly mistaken. You can’t convince people you have a valid stance by spreading negative propaganda, no matter how much you believe the status quo has wronged you.

Feminism is promotion of acceptance.

It is something that should not be necessary in modern society, but is. For those of you who laugh it off as a 19th-century problem, you are wrong.

Has there been progress? Yes.

Women are allowed to vote, wear pants and choose to work in lifelong professions not limited to secretarial positions.

But as any girl who has walked down Highland Road in a skirt can tell you, we have a long way to go. Until males stop feeling that it’s acceptable to catcall a woman they have never met in the spirit of warm-weather fun, we have not reached an acceptable endpoint.

And really, what would be so wrong about a lack of shaving?

Any man with a beard can tell you it’s much easier that way.