Overpriced, overcrowded dinners, the stressful over-planning, the thought provoking…purchases? In all seriousness, Valentine’s Day has no real substance anymore.
Morally, Valentine’s Day is pretty corrupt actually. Gender expectations are that planning, buying and preparing Valentine’s festivities falls on the man while the sexual aspect of the hallmark holiday fall on the woman. Men buy chocolate; women buy lingerie.
I’m not saying this is necessarily bad. No, I don’t appreciate that women feel obligated to be overly sexual and men feel obligated to buy gifts they don’t want to buy: but it’s the moral aspects that really get me. Since when is it okay to perpetuate that the only way to display affection for a significant other is through purchases and stressful planning?
Younger generations learn through these consumer holidays that love is shown through bravo actions and the amount of money you spent…god forbid you accidentally leave a tag on your significant other’s gift and it only cost you 10 dollars. The main reason people feel morally obligated to participate in Valentine’s Day is because they want their partner to understand they admire them. Couples should exchange gifts or go on a date because they want to not because T.V commercials convinced them that their significant other won’t believe they love them if they don’t.

The Valentine’s Day holiday has evolved into this consumer chaos because humans really don’t have an effective way to show affection besides a gift or quality time. All other holidays are the same way: Christmas is one of the biggest consumer holidays there is. In our society, love has come to mean overplanned, over glamorized actions or purchases.
Lastly, Valentine’s includes this background pressure to “get even” with your significant other. The exchange of gifts must be relatively even or the partner with the lesser gift feels guilty for not being affectionate enough. So not only is a gift required if one is attempting to show their appreciation, but if the gift is not “good enough” –comparatively–that’s a whole other issue in itself.
Valentine’s Day in its entirety is just stressful and holds no real importance. If you’ve come up with a way to celebrate this holiday in a way that allows it to be enjoyable or even remotely unsexist, please explain to me, I just don’t understand.