Singer Taylor Swift says that as a teenager she misunderstood the meaning of feminism, but now she associates herself with it.

She shared her views on the topic during during an interview, , reports contactmusic.com.

"As a teenager, I didn't understand that saying you're a feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities,` she told The Guardian newspaper.

"What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means.

"For so long it's been made to seem like something where you'd picket against the opposite sex, whereas it's not about that at all,` she added.