Growing up, “feminism” wasn’t a word used often in my house. Not that it wasn’t on display. I was the only child of a single, working mother. She brought home the bacon—and the eggs—cooked them up and then lectured on the importance of portion size. From my perch, women were smart and capable masters of their own universes. I didn’t need a word for my reality.

In college, I was introduced academically to feminism as the belief in equal rights and opportunities for both sexes. Well that’s just American, I thought. Who wouldn’t call themselves a feminist? However, I quickly realized that the term aggravated many of my male peers and horrified even more of my female friends. For them the label was the equivalent of anger, man-hate and hairy underarms.

In its winding history and constant evolution, feminism has taken on so many political, cultural and deeply personal meanings that now, by identifying myself as a feminist in the dawn of 2012, I am also subjecting myself to everyone else’s definitions. At times I am concerned, hurt and even angry that if I feel pressured to bury my alliance, how many others are omitting the word, forgetting the legacy or undermining those still on the frontlines?

What does feminism mean today, and is it still relevant? I decided to poll change-makers from across generations—from the old guard of the women’s liberation movement to business trailblazers and millennial women reclaiming and redefining it on the Web. The responses were mixed.

For many, regardless of age, modern feminism retains its activist, agenda-based roots. “[It’s] revolution,” says Gloria Steinem, 77, the famed women’s rights activist and co-founder of Ms. Magazine. “Women in the world still bear most of the violence, do most of the work and get less of the salary. We’ve come a long way in consciousness and made a lot of strides, but this is just the beginning.”

“I call it feminisms—plural,” says Robin Morgan, 70, co-founder of the Women’s Media Center. “To young women in the global North, eating disorders are a major problem, but to women in the global South, eating disorder means not having enough rice in your bowl. So feminism doesn’t have a narrow definition; it’s when anyone fights for women’s rights.”

“[It] is the recognition that women are human beings with the right to full participation in society,” says Irin Carmon, 28, a former Jezebel writer now at Salon. “What that means in practice is ensuring reproductive freedom, working to prevent discrimination and sexual assault, and trying to create a world of relationships and partnerships that reflect and enable women’s contributions.”

Next: The backlash.