Beyoncé stood unapologetically on the VMA stage with the word “FEMINIST” glowing behind her against a dimmed backdrop. Her feet were firm on the ground, and her hands were defiantly by her hips. The striking visual was complemented by an excerpt from Nigerian writer and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2012 TEDx talk, which is also sampled in Beyoncé’s viral hit “Flawless.” Adichie assailed the societal norm of teaching young women to “have ambition, but not too much” at risk of “threaten[ing] the man.”

The singer’s performance last August was met with both critical acclaim and opprobrium. Many feminists lauded Beyoncé’s powerful messages of gender equality and female empowerment—her ability to bring pertinent women’s issues literally to a national stage. Others chose to question the very merits of her feminism, viewing her provocative style of dress and choreography as contradictory to her self-professed values. They claimed that Beyoncé’s flashy ensemble was crafted solely for the male gaze and was inconsistent with the feminist values she espoused. Others, like presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, asserted that Beyoncé’s choreography was “best left for the privacy of her bedroom,” even chastising the Obamas for letting their daughters listen to the singer’s brand of “mental poison.” Then again, Huckabee also advised the women of America to “control their libido” without the aid of government-financed birth control.

What the Beyoncé critics and Huckabees of the world may not have considered is that, maybe, she did not wake up one day and decide to be a provocateur for money, fame, attention, or to spoil the minds of the American youth. Maybe, pushing the boundaries of media orthodoxy is her own brand of empowerment. Maybe, she wants young women to know that it’s okay to take ownership of their bodies instead of conforming to sexist paradigms. Maybe, she is not groveling for male attention via self-sexualizing behavior. Maybe she is simply embracing her femininity, which in no way diminishes her strength.

This is not to say that Beyoncé is the first or the last woman to challenge the preconceived notions of gender standards and stereotypes. Countless women before her, from the early suffragists to Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem to Maya Angelou to Hillary Clinton, broke down major barriers to redefine the role of women in the home, the workplace, and society—or rather, to let women decide for themselves. Friedan dedicated her life to establishing gender equality, notably publishing The Feminine Mystique, a book recognized as sparking the second wave of feminism. Steinem, often deemed “the face of feminism,” led the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, co-founding the National Women’s Political Caucus and Ms. Magazine. She shattered the caricature of feminists as unattractive, militant man-haters, disproving the myth that embracing feminine qualities as a feminist is verboten. Angelou’s opus, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, gave a voice to young women—both black and white—who were silenced, as she once was. It galvanized much-needed public discourse about rape culture and the stereotypes concerning black womanhood.  Hillary Clinton shattered her own glass ceiling by rising to the top of Washington politics, and did so as she advocated a powerful feminist agenda.

Yes, we’ve come a long way since the early days of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. But there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to achieve any semblance of true equality. We need the efforts of the many politicians and reformers and activists, some of whom are listed above, to achieve this goal. But we also need the efforts of those who inundate our magazines, dominate our TV screens, and croon their way into our iPods. We need those whose opinions not only shape public discourse but are also heard by the young, the “wired-up.” Not all young people are privy to the ideas of Steinem and her ilk. However, they probably consider the Harry Potter franchise a staple of their childhoods and would eagerly change the channel to watch Emma Watson perform, whether as Hermione in The Goblet of Fire or as the newly appointed UN Women Global Ambassador. Most teenagers have also laughed along with Ellen Page’s antics in Juno and commiserated with Joseph-Gordon Levitt in 500 Days of Summer. And they certainly have belted out the lyrics to their favorite Beyoncé song—at least once. To hear these celebrities publicly declare their feminism is, for some, validation. For others, it exposes them to a concept of feminism that may have been previously obscured.

So why does all of this matter, anyway? For years, feminists have been misconstrued as a party of radicals engaging in pointless banter over imaginary problems. For many, the image of the archetypal feminist is incomplete without bras being burned and men being wiped off the face of the earth. Feminists have been mocked and scorned to the point where describing oneself as the “f-word” can be taboo. Even Time Magazine included “feminism” on its list of words to be banned in 2015 (the publication later apologized). Clearly, the movement has a blatant PR problem, which makes the work of the feminist activist—whether Sheryl Sandberg or Beyoncé Knowles—ever more important. The mass circulation of the varying definitions of “feminism” over the years has alienated numerous potential outlets of support. Yes, everyone has his or her own notions of feminism, but the underlying idea is universal: gender equality of the sexes. There is no strict dogma to follow, and not all feminists agree on each individual issue. There are some who, contrary to popular belief, are not ardent pro-choicers. There are some who believe Beyoncé and performers like her set a negative precedent for women. There are also some who believe that women should embrace one another—in spite of their differences—because they all have common experiences as women. I happen to share in that thinking. Regardless, it is critical that the movement has proper representation as it evolves. That may include Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Kirsten Gillibrand, the collegiate activists hauling mattresses around campus—or all of the above. What is important is that we need to put aside the ugly stereotypes so that, as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, we can achieve bona fide feminism: “the social, economic and political equality of the sexes.”