YES by Breanna Losey

Being single already sucks (unless it’s a choice, in which case, go you!), so we don’t need a day where it’s shoved down our throats how great being in a relationship is. Being bombarded with love and admiration is fine, but at school on Valentine’s Day, it feels like a contest of who can give the biggest or most expensive present to a girl.

Valentine’s Day is also incredibly sexist when you peel back the layers. Think about it; it’s always up to the guy in a relationship to prove how much they love a girl by buying her everything she desires, feeding into the stereotype that the man is dominant in the relationship. And when the male forgets the holiday, it’s supposed to anger the female, since she is more emotionally needy and requires validation of her relationship in the form of flowers, chocolates and cards.

This message is so toxic to children, too, who are subjected to advertisements that promote capitalism underneath the layer of misogyny. Kids forced to pass out Valentine’s Day cards are further pushing a tired narrative that those who get cards are happy and popular and that those who don’t are lonely and undesirable.

Relationships don’t need the stress of deciding whether the social pressures of exchanging gifts are something they need to cave in to. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spend $19.7 billion on Valentine’s Day, with an average of $512.03 per person. That’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a pointless holiday.

The increase of consumerism also increases waste. Paper cards, dead flowers, leftover food they all make their way to the dump by the next day. As a society, reducing our garbage is something we should all try to do, instead of celebrate holidays that promote a reckless sense of “use ‘em then lose ‘em”.

Finding someone you want to spend time with is special, and you shouldn’t have to dedicate one day every year to prove it to them.

NO by Sebastien Ostertag

People have told me that they think that Valentine’s Day is “Singles Depression Day.” I am single, and I firmly believe that Valentine’s Day can be an amazing holiday. Now, it is true that many times we become sort of depressed during the Valentine’s Day season, because we feel sorry that we don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend. I have been there, but the best thing to remember on Valentine’s Day, as others have told me and have said, is that it is a reminder. As a Christian, I believe that God has already a person in mind for me and for everyone else in the world. Valentine’s Day helps us to remember that someday we may very well have a wife or a husband. The people who say that Valentine’s Day is stupid point out that it is helping to keep traditional gender norms. I stand with the idea that it is not wrong to support traditional gender norms when it comes to romance.

In church, I along with many other young men who go to this school and live in this community have been taught that we need to respect women and treat them with love and protect them. I have met and talked to so many women, many of them P-CEP students, who like it when guys are protective and kind. For instance, Salem Freshman Bella Gusler said of this, “I think men should be protective of women as an act of chivalry. I see how many people may view this as sexist because women can do things on their own, but I believe men should be chivalrous, women just have the right to choose to accept their chivalry or deny it.” She is joined by many other young women on this topic because of the fact that this is how many women feel.

I will continue to say that Valentine’s Day is not sexist and that it is good for the guy to protect and lead the woman in a relationship.