Why?

I guess I understand to a point. People believe that feminism is dead. Why? Is it dead because they are just tired of hearing about it?
I get it. I mean, at least I pretend I do. I just firmly believe that women have a lot to fight for. I think that we need to be empowered. People hear the word feminism and they cringe. WHY?
We need to feel like we have the ability to be independent. I have been lucky enough to grow up feeling this sort of empowerment.
I wouldn't really consider myself "lucky" considering I grew up in a single parent household. However, My mother was an extremely strong influence. It is important to be willing and able to take care of yourself as an independent person. When a man lives alone in a house full of other men it is called a bachelor pad. What is it called when a woman lives alone in a house full of other women?
I think people are scared of feminism. I think they just don't know how to react. They don't know how to respond to these claims of inequality. Neither do I.
I know that I want to feel empowered. I seek out these words of empowerment. I read feminist based magazines. I am a regular to feminist based websites.
What about girls who don't know where to find these encouraging words? What about them? Are we expected to just leave them behind?
All I know is that I am brought to shame any time I bring feminism up in conversation. With males or females. I am made to feel as if I am talking about the same movies everyone has been talking about for months. Except no one is talking about this. No one is talking about feminism.
They are just too scared.
Because it is just too much. It is just too lame. People just say "Oh! Oh no! Feminism! Why?"
On the other side of the fence I don't think that any woman should be made to feel bad about wanting a "simple" life. There is nothing un-empowering about being a mother or a wife. It is a severe misjudgment that feminists are against those ideals. The fight is over choice. It is over equality of the genders. Emotional equality, social equality and political equality. Men and women together.
In all reality i think that people just cant handle it. They don't really know what to say.