Letters to the Editor
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Hmmm...
Valentine's Day has everything to do with women's rights and freedoms.
I'd say it's about age-old stereotypes and a lingering sense of female privilige.
In the 19th Century, men placed women on pedestals, worshipping them as being more refined, cultured and sophisticated than themselves. All of this attention was great on the one hand, but restricting on the other. Women had to live up to those ideals. This is one reason why women were denied the right to have libidos (how base, animalistic and... masculine).
Valentine's Day, sadly, still enshrines these values. It's pay for play. Men buy the candy, roses and expensive dinners. Women bask in the attention (which they expect and feel entitled to), and are then expected to put out. Now, there's nothing wrong with the idea of a holiday devoted to romantic love, but I'm afraid heterosexual men and women could learn a lot from their gay and lesbian cousins in this regard.
In same-sex relationships, partners buy for each other, wine and dine each other, think of special things to do for each other to celebrate the day and their affections. It's not about one partner paying homage to the other.
We'll have real equality between the sexes when both straight men and straight women leave behind these old stereotypes, expectations and rituals. On that day, women will buy chocolate boxes for men, give men diamond bracelets (or maybe not), and the guy will spring for dinner. Valentine's Day will be a celebration of equals. That day will have everything to do with women's rights and freedoms.