Valentine’s Day baby

By: Emily Fehrman / Opinion Page Editor

All right, Valentine’s Day is in a week, which means it’s time to start thinking about what to get or do with your significant other. Or at least, that’s what society has told us is important in all our lives.

The idea of Valentine’s Day being sweet and about love is a little forgotten. It started the same way it’s been forever, a holiday designed to get the average person to waste a bunch of their money on things that don’t really matter for their significant other.

The gender norms that surround the holiday are as outdated as the holiday itself. A certain expectation lies around the man taking the woman out, figuring out where to go, what to do. Buying overly expensive gifts that no sane woman would actually look at any other day and think “Hmm… this is so cute, let me just snag this real quick.”

But that’s how the holiday is marketed – the man buys his lady overpriced terribly cringy gifts that she pretends to like.

As of late, many younger couples have been straying from the gender norms of V-Day, realizing that the man shouldn’t be the only one paying for everything, planning dates and making decisions.

The holiday is a bit toxic. It creates unrealistic expectations for the whole relationship from there on out. Setting the bar at the absolute highest is counterproductive because now you have nowhere to build up from. When putting the pressure to give your significant other the perfect Valentine’s Day, you can find yourself spending way too much money you don’t have on things that are unimportant and unnecessary to your partner.

Everyone has different expectations for the holiday, and partners not having good communication can lead to a lot of irrational arguments.

No matter how much you love your significant other, you’re probably dreading Valentine’s Day because it is stressful getting things planned out and perfect. I suggest talking to your partner and establishing that you don’t care to have all the craziness that seems to follow the holiday.

During the time leading up to Valentine’s Day, you start to feel pressured into spending more money, because every corporation and business wants to sell you something. It’s all right to spend however much you want if you really want to. I don’t want anyone to think they shouldn’t get their partner anything. I’m saying don’t do it because everyone and society are telling you to.

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean you should expect your life to turn into a rom-com for the day, so don’t set the expectation so high. It’s just any other day that you can show your affection and appreciation for your special someone.

I know I seem like I hate Valentine’s Day, but in reality (when you have someone to be with) it’s a nice little holiday. I don’t do all the extravagant things, but it’s nice to be with someone special having a chance to celebrate the bond you share and realizing what that means.

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