10 Reasons Why Valentine’s Day Is Overrated

I’ve always disliked Valentine’s Day. To me, it was always such a pointless holiday, thought up by the greeting-card industry just to generate some revenue in the off seasons. When I was younger, I used to think it was romantic, a day set aside for people to celebrate their love together. Now that I’m older, I realize how stupid that thought is. Every day should be a day to celebrate your love with another, not just on February 14.

There are countless reasons why I can’t stand V-Day, but I’ve narrowed it down.

1. It makes those who aren’t in relationships feel unloved.

What can be worse than that? It’s bad enough that you’re constantly reminded of how alone you are each day as you pass couples holding hands on a Wednesday afternoon or making out at the club on a Friday night. Now, you have to deal with a whole fucking day dedicated to mushy love songs, cheesy Lifetime movies and smiling girls holding onto giant teddy bears and chocolate hearts. Barf.

2. It gives those who are in relationships a reason to stress out.

For those in happy union, Valentine’s Day is a headache—just another expensive day to plan. We spend serious money for the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries, and now, we’re also expected to pull out the wallet for this random day in February. This is a day to make plans—gotta get her roses, and some chocolates, and ohhh can’t forget those dinner reservations!—and this is also a day to freak out when those plans don’t go exactly the way you want them to.

3. It empowers gender stereotypes.

For men, Valentine’s Day is a day where they get to prove how much they love their girl. For women, V-Day is a day to sit back and relax as their guy breaks his back to give them the perfect night. Valentine’s Day feeds into the stereotype that men are dominant in the relationship—here’s this powerful, strong man, giving me everything I could have wanted; without him, I’d be nothing. So totally wrong! Girls and guys should be equals when it comes to a relationship; not one person should do more than the other.

4. People take it as a day to express their undying love for each other, when every day should be a day to express your undying love for each other.

If you love someone enough to be in a relationship with them, you should love them enough to express your feelings to them on a daily basis. You should always treat your girl or guy with as much adoration and love as you do on Valentine’s Day.

5. Valentine’s Day sucks because of all the lonely girls who complain about how much it sucks.

This reason is especially sucky, because those lonely girls are also the girls who absolutely love Valentine’s Day when they’re in a relationship. One year in high school, two girls wore matching sweatshirts that said “Single Girl Swag” across the front. Seriously? Can I just say that by acting as if you don’t care that you aren’t in a relationship by making such a huge gesture actually implies that you, in fact, do care? And can I also point out that these are the same girls who walked around with giant teddy bears for six hours the next year?

6. February is a sucky month.

February is the forgotten middle child of the year. It’s the shortest of all the months, and sometimes has an extra day that always throws everyone off. It’s also got some of the nastiest, bipolar weather. Just yesterday, I was walking around in a thin sweatshirt; today, there’s more than an inch of snow on the ground.

7. You don’t know how to act around your friends who aren’t in a relationship when you are.

Do you show them all the awesome gifts your boyfriend showered you with this year? Do you tell them about the dinner reservations at the Cheesecake Factory? And what about the love notes he’s been leaving for you all day? Adversely…

8. You don’t know how to act around your friends who are in a relationship when you aren’t.

Do you openly roll your eyes when they show you the new diamond earrings they got? Do you scoff when they tell you about their dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and secretly hope they gain weight from all the chocolates? Or do you fake happiness for your friend when all you want to do is sit at home with a jar of Nutella, a box of tissues and The Notebook?

9. People who propose on Valentine’s Day.

How about a little originality? Girls expect to be proposed to on Valentine’s Day, which takes away from the surprise of it all. Also, it’s something that everyone else does—so why would you want one of the most important days of your life to be shared with tons of other men and women?

10. Cupid is creepy.

Um…a man dressed as a winged baby in a diaper, following you and your lover around, shooting you with sharp arrows? OK, Greek mythology, OK.