February arrives with its entourage of odd weather events, a severely needed school break and nauseatingly enough, Valentine’s Day. The holiday rolls in with the sickeningly sweet smell of candy hearts and chocolate roses as lovers celebrate giddily. The sinister side of this disgustingly over-indulgent holiday lies within the sheer volume of waste that accumulates as a result of late-stage capitalism. Not only does the holiday highlight the capitalist sickness within America, but it also feeds the heterocentric social norms that our society cultivates.
“I was single on Valentine’s, and it was sucky, I mean, I had my friend Valentine’s and stuff, but being single on Valentine’s Day is not fun. It’s especially not fun when you see couples, like it makes me miss my ex, which is bad, but also, you literally cannot escape them. Everyone’s Instagram is covered with them and the ‘love of their life,’ and I’m like, die. But, the real point is spending time with the people that you love and being able to appreciate each other, having a holiday for that is good and bad,” senior Aniya Burns said.
Like every holiday in the U.S., Valentine’s Day creates horrifying amounts of waste. The day reportedly generates over 7.6 million square meters of plastic waste. Not to mention the foil from chocolate roses or other materials left unaccounted for in the wake of the holiday’s short-lived craze. Valentine’s feeds the trend of quick and cheap dopamine that poisons American society. Allowing romantic partners to express their love and admiration for one another with cheap and easily accessible gifts sets a low bar for the rest of the year, as couples use the excuse that they will opt instead to wait for Valentine’s.
The craze of Valentine’s Day allows couples to become lazy for the rest of the year, reserving romantic gestures for the holiday, rather than expressing their appreciation for their partner year-round. Despite the unchanging date for the holiday, individuals tend to procrastinate buying or creating gifts, leading to higher stress and less elaborate or romantic gifts. A majority of people claim that they prefer handmade, thoughtful gifts that hold sentimental value to them, but the capitalistic trend of Valentine’s Day creates difficulty in finding unique store-bought gifts. Overall, the holiday provides an easy way out for procrastinators and sucks the romance out of the rest of the year.
Beyond the disgusting amount of waste Valentine’s Day generates and the ever-decreasing standards of partners nationwide, the holiday also contributes to the toxic and damaging social norm that pressures individuals to find romantic lovers. The entire basis of the holiday calls for couples to love and appreciate each other. This kind of dismissal leaves single people feeling outcast as couples flaunt their relationships on social media. The root of the issue runs far deeper than Valentine’s Day and circles back to the puritanical ideals of relationships and sexuality in the U.S.
Defenders of the holiday argue that Valentine’s Day provides opportunities for single individuals to enjoy the occasion in other ways, such as “Galentine’s” and platonic gifts between friends. These points hold no serious weight in the grand scheme of events, and the opportunities provided to singles do not negate the sheer obnoxiousness of couples during the holiday or the overwhelmingly romantic nature of the holiday itself. Not to mention the fact that nearly all valentines target straight couples and continuously reinforces the damaging heteronormative social norm that permeates American Society.
“Yes, I was [single on Valentine’s Day], it didn’t make me feel any kind of way, I love being single. I think seeing couples on social media does affect me because there’s no way to escape it. When you see stuff like that, it’s like dang, I wish someone could do this for me, who’s gonna hold me when I cry? There’s also a feeling of being left out when you’re single, cause everyone is coupling up and it starts to feel lonely,” junior Leondria Henderson said.
Ultimately, Valentine’s Day as a whole only serves to generate unnecessary waste and stomp on romantic expectations between couples. Why the U.S. still celebrates the holiday stands plain and clear for all to see. Capitalistic societies cling to fads and holidays as a quick and easy way to stimulate income. Every gift bought at the supermarket, every Hallmark card and every dinner date out to a chain restaurant only serves to stimulate the greed of capitalism and push humanity ever closer to downfall caused by ignorance.
