Happy Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is 2 days away. While I've happily not noticed much of the fuss this year compared to the past, there are still several issues I have with the way the day is promoted.

"Show your sweetie how much you love them on Valentine's Day!" is the message that the advertisers promote. I'm not an relationship expert by any stretch, but I'd suggest that if you need a particular day of the year to say "I love you," something's not quite right. There are also tons of contests and prizes for "you and your sweetie," and if you're single, don't worry, we even have contests to pair you up with someone. The implicit message is that you need to be part of a couple, or something's wrong with you. This despite that I'm sure many of you know on the one hand good people who just can't find that right person, and on the other hand people who don't treat their partners with the most respect. It's a message that many people not in relationships dislike.

The holiday is also largely promoted in a heterosexist manner. In almost every case, the "sweetie" mentioned in the above paragraph has to be someone of the opposite sex, so the accepted positions in society with respect to romantic relationships is even more restrictive. It goes to show that in spite of homosexuals in Canada now having the legal right to marry that in many regards their relationships are at worst unacceptable and at best second class.

Valentine's Day is a big money maker in North America. Card companies, restaurants and hotels, the list goes on. Why not a day dedicated to celebrating single people? Oh, wait a minute, if people aren't made to feel inadequate about their personal situations, you can't make money off them. After all, if they're satisfied, they don't need much, and importantly, they don't buy much. Valentine's Day as currently practiced is part of a larger tactic of advertisers looking for ways to make people feel inadequate. Why do we buy into this and allow ourselves to be manipulated?