“I’m Not a Feminist; I Can Actually Cook.”

Social media gets a lot of criticism (and most of it is deserved), but every once in a while something happens online that actually inspires me. For example, last year there was a popular trend that reminded me of how powerful women are, how far we’ve come, and how much we’re capable of.

It started with a girl trying to mock feminism. She posted a video on TikTok with the caption “I’m not a feminist, I can actually cook,” trying to make feminists look bad, suggesting that real women stay in the kitchen while feminists are just angry women who can’t do anything useful. She wanted to ridicule the movement and position herself as the superior, traditional woman who knows her place.

But it backfired completely.

Because feminists all over the world saw her video and decided to respond by showing exactly what they can actually do. Women started posting their own videos using her video as an intro, except instead of showing off cooking skills, they showed the incredible things they do with their lives. And what came out of it was one of the most inspiring displays of female achievement I’ve ever seen on social media.