Valentine's Day
Feb. 10th, 2012 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
persephone20I'm really starting to hate this stereotype that women need to hate Valentine's Day, or at least be indifferent to it, in order to be some sort of kickass modern girl. Statements like 'she's my kind of girl' that seem to follow this observation are really starting to piss me off. Seems to insinuate that there's something wrong with any girl who gets excited over Valentine's Day. And there's not. Not any more than a girl who hates it or is indifferent to the whole gimmick.
Valentine's Day is merely one day out of the year that can be put aside to spend with your loved one(s). I've seen it spark of other lovely offshoots, such as I'm Already Busy on Tuesday, Let's Go Out On Thursday Instead Day (February 16th), Polyamorous Chocolate Day (March 14th), and even We Haven't Gone Out For a While and That Dinner We Had in Feb Was Great, So Let's Do It Again Day (Dates to be confirmed).
Negativity such as 'But it's just a commercial holiday to sell cards and chocolates' has no place there. Apart from perhaps, 'Yes. And?' Because I've found the responce to that most commonly is some regurgitation of,'And I'm a Modern Woman. I don't need to feed in to commercial culture to feel special.'
Well, why not? What's wrong with being spoilt by your partner for a night? And what's wrong with, months or weeks later, you decide to return the favour and spoil them right back? What's the harm in Valentine's Day then? Most of my Valentine's Days haven't even included a card or any chocolates, but a nice dinner at a favoured restaurant instead.
With this swing towards anti-Valentine's Day, I can't help but be put in mind of the way that housewives were treated after women's liberation had women going out into the work force. A woman liking Valentine's Day has almost become the new, 'But I like being a housewife and I like looking after my husband and kids' made her less of a modern woman. She was kicking women's lib in the teeth, or knocking it back 20 years, or some nonsense.
I don't like the idea of being a housewife. Cleaning bathrooms squicks me out far too much for that, especially when I have a perfectly good boy to do it for me. Never mind the kids! But I really like looking after my boy, my girl, or whoever I'm dating, when it comes down to it. I didn't always like Valentine's Day. As a teen girl, I too felt the empowerment of 'I don't need Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is stupid and lame and I don't want any part in it.' Maybe that's the reason why I'm standing here on my soap box. Looking back, I can't see any good reason why I didn't celebrate Valentine's Day with my first boyfriend, especially since we had a regular date night around the middle of each month every month except for February.
And I don't think that makes me any less than the next girl because I like Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day is merely one day out of the year that can be put aside to spend with your loved one(s). I've seen it spark of other lovely offshoots, such as I'm Already Busy on Tuesday, Let's Go Out On Thursday Instead Day (February 16th), Polyamorous Chocolate Day (March 14th), and even We Haven't Gone Out For a While and That Dinner We Had in Feb Was Great, So Let's Do It Again Day (Dates to be confirmed).
Negativity such as 'But it's just a commercial holiday to sell cards and chocolates' has no place there. Apart from perhaps, 'Yes. And?' Because I've found the responce to that most commonly is some regurgitation of,'And I'm a Modern Woman. I don't need to feed in to commercial culture to feel special.'
Well, why not? What's wrong with being spoilt by your partner for a night? And what's wrong with, months or weeks later, you decide to return the favour and spoil them right back? What's the harm in Valentine's Day then? Most of my Valentine's Days haven't even included a card or any chocolates, but a nice dinner at a favoured restaurant instead.
With this swing towards anti-Valentine's Day, I can't help but be put in mind of the way that housewives were treated after women's liberation had women going out into the work force. A woman liking Valentine's Day has almost become the new, 'But I like being a housewife and I like looking after my husband and kids' made her less of a modern woman. She was kicking women's lib in the teeth, or knocking it back 20 years, or some nonsense.
I don't like the idea of being a housewife. Cleaning bathrooms squicks me out far too much for that, especially when I have a perfectly good boy to do it for me. Never mind the kids! But I really like looking after my boy, my girl, or whoever I'm dating, when it comes down to it. I didn't always like Valentine's Day. As a teen girl, I too felt the empowerment of 'I don't need Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is stupid and lame and I don't want any part in it.' Maybe that's the reason why I'm standing here on my soap box. Looking back, I can't see any good reason why I didn't celebrate Valentine's Day with my first boyfriend, especially since we had a regular date night around the middle of each month every month except for February.
And I don't think that makes me any less than the next girl because I like Valentine's Day.
