Reclaiming Valentine's Day: The True Feminist Holiday

Any sensible girl will tell you that Valentine's Day is a hyper commercialized, heteronormative, pseudo-holiday. A glum description for a celebration of love, but difficult to argue nonetheless. Popular Valentine gifts (the stuffed bear, chalk flavored candy hearts, and crotchless panties) have become mascots to this celebration but do little to reflect the true meaning behind it.

Valentine's Day is not the invention of Hallmark Cards- fashioned to separate the single from the rest of the population. V-Day or Lupercalia (The Wolf Festival), as Pagan's called it, was the celebration of womanhood and fertility.

The festival was meant to achieve two goals: the first, was to give thanks to Pagan Gods (Pan), and the second was to ask for purification in the form of new crops, healthy pregnancies, and the prevention of disease.

To celebrate, guests would whip woman with the fur hides and participate in love lotteries (a sexy Goblet of Fire if you please). Young men and women would be paired up for the duration of the festival to dance, drink, and ideally, find romance. Though being spanked with fur and casual sex seems intriguing to me, I'm sure the women of that era would disagree. Particularly in the event that the match was not actually made in heaven.

Many historians say that this celebration was a dark and twisted commemoration of the female gender, sweetened with time through it's depictions in famous works by Shakespeare and Chaucer, and eventually embraced in the New World in the form of glitter hearts and cupid babies. The truth of Valentine's Day doesn't invoke much romance, but the meaning behind it does. Valentine's Day celebrates women, for women. It's history and it's current perception veer far from the celebration of the female gender, but this can be changed.

When I decided to approach the topic of feminism (and more specifically, reshaping a holiday that is anti-feminist in many ways), I knew it would be difficult- difficult to convince others of why it is important to reclaim February 14th as a woman's holiday. As males, females, transgenders, it is our responsibility to not only voice our concerns with gender inequality, but to act on it.

On one hand, we witness the suitor of excess: someone who supports the modern customs of Valentine's through consumerism and obligation. The second, is someone who opposes the holiday through any means necessary; rejecting a celebration styled around gender-norm couples, or simply couples, that imply a disregard for independence. Rather then categorizing ourselves as one or the other, why not reshape the way we approach Valentine's altogether? Let's celebrate this V-Day partying like animals in the name of ladies; not in the name of our latest boyfriend or girlfriend.

We offer a few suggestions, so that no matter where your comfort level is, you can feel empowered and educated in how you choose to reclaim Valentine's Day.

EDUCATE AND INSPIRE YOURSELF: Cozy up this Valentine's Day with a great read. We suggest The Diaries of Anais Nin (sexual exploration), Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (satire of the patriarchal concept of the female sex), Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (sexual expression), The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (feminist philosophy), Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway (sexual transference and gender reversal roles), and Tender Bottoms by Gertrude Stein (womens oppression in society).

Don't want to purchase a book in the hubbub of Valentine's Day chaos? Visit actress, Caitlin Stasey's new brainchild, HerselfDotCom. Herself is a celebration of females and the unique experiences that shape them. Stasey interviews women on the issues of religion, sexuality, politics, gender inequality, and more. It is not only important to ask ourselves these questions, but to become aware of how other females respond to them as well. Herself is an incredibly inspiring website that provides women with the opportunity to articulate their feelings in a community setting without judgement.

EDUCATE AND INSPIRE OTHERS: There is no better way to celebrate the female gender then by advancing it's status in society. Visit The Library of Congress to locate your state legislator (the men and women responsible for proposing new bills). Familiarize yourself with your current state laws. What are your feelings regarding your states abortion laws, availability of contraceptives, sexual education programs, female wage statistics? Make a statement for all females by allowing yourself to be heard on these subjects.

Use the hashtag #reclaimvday to show others how you are taking back Valentine's Day.

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