Valentine’s Day is the absolute worst commercialized holiday in history.
Aside from the fact that we’re supposed to save all of our generosity and affection for one day of the year and the horrifying pressure one feels in the weeks leading up to V-Day, we’re left with a pink stereotypical girl-driven holiday.
Walk into any store between Jan. 1 and Feb. 14 and you will see mountains of red and pink novelty gifts for men to buy for their girlfriends.
The holiday preys upon young heterosexual couples and implies it is the man’s duty to plan and execute Valentine’s Day events and gifts. The worst participants in this institutional insanity are millenials. According to the National Retail Foundation, the average couple will spend between $73 and $175 dollars on V-Day gifts — however, couples aged 20-34 will spend almost three times the national average, and men spend twice as much as the national average.
The sad fact is most of these gifts aren’t extravagant or special in any way. Discount stores are the most popular V-Day gift destination — it is where 39.6 percent of people purchase their gifts, with department stores following at a close second with 33.2 percent of people shopping there according to the NRF.
We’ve been brainwashed by a capitalist society that wants us to believe red roses and Dove chocolate are the height of luxury, they’re not.
According to Scientific American, 200 million roses are grown for V-Day alone, and they collectively produce 14,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide enters our atmosphere during this time faster than it can be absorbed by nature. Over 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from carbon dioxide, which is connected to warming temperatures across the globe.
The flowers are also dosed with chemicals to keep vermin and diseases away, but most of those chemicals are so dangerous they’re banned in the United States and Europe. The cut flower industry collectively use just as many harmful greenhouse gases as the oil industry.
On top of destroying the atmosphere, jewelry sales from V-Day leave more than 34 million tons of waste worldwide, according to Earthworks.
Valentine’s Day also begins a season of depression for adults in the United States. According to the Suicide Prevention Service, V-Day is the start of a rise in suicide rates in the United States because people are pressured to feel happy and be in love in February but that they’re actually more likely to become isolated and have depressive thoughts.
Then there’s the origins of the holiday.
While many live under the assumption that Valentine’s Day gets its origins from priests who performed illegal wedding ceremonies, that’s not entirely the case. Feb. 14 is the anniversary of the beheading of two men, both called Valentine, by Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus.
The holiday more likely gets its origins from the Roman festival Lupercalia. Usually held mid-february, Lupercalia is a fertility festival which celebrates Spring’s arrival. The festival also included a lottery men could enter to win a woman. These men would sacrifice a goat and a dog and then beat their prize, a woman, with the hides of these animals.
We should show our loved ones we care for them every single day. Our actions and our words speak far louder than any gift ever could.
Abbie Shull is a 23-year-old mass communication junior from St. Louis, Missouri.