As someone who has never been in a romantic relationship in their life, I have always had complicated (and very negative) feelings towards the ideas behind Valentine’s Day: why it exists, what it celebrates, and who is benefiting from it existing. In the end, I don’t want this to come off biased, like I would write it if it were just for myself. I want to, instead take an objective view of two reasons this holiday is subpar at best and pandering and insulting at worst.
One, being the obvious, it actively demeans those who are not in a relationship. Have you ever seen those memes online where it is a sad video and the caption says “Another Valentine’s Day alone” or something like that? Yeah, me too, and a lot of other people share that same sentiment. The majority of my friend group at home is single and they all mostly share similar feelings about just a yearly reminder that other people are more well off and happier in their lives than others. I can hear all of you saying that it is to celebrate each other in relationships for what they do for those in them. You can definitely say that, and it is true, but this leaks into the second reason why.
Love for your significant other is something you should celebrate year round, not just some random day in February and that’s it. From an objective standpoint, selecting one day a year where love is celebrated makes it seem like relationships are just faking it for the sake of fulfilling a holiday spirit established by someone hundreds of years ago, not even considering the consequences it would have on the definition of what it is trying to celebrate in the first place.
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