Valentines Day: A Day of Gender Inequality

Let's face it, Valentines Day has become nothing but a day for women. Maybe that was always the case, at least to an extent, but it seems to have reached the point where its all about girlfriends, wives, and female significant others.

As a man who is married with a child, I have come to dread Valentines Day. My wife is not nearly as bad as most women when it comes to this kind of stuff, but still, it is her day, not mine. I will not be showered with gifts on this holiday, but the pressure is on my ass to make it special for her. And even though my wife has come to not expect too much on Valentine's Day, there is a certain minimal level that I must live up to or the day will end with her mad and disappointed with me.

-Valentines Day sucks for men (image from teepublic.com).

A few years back I bought my wife some chocolates with caramel and pecans in them. I thought they sounded really good. However, she was not satisfied because she thought I bought them for me and not her. She forced me to redo Valentines Day a few weeks later.

One year I woke up early and brought my wife a ribeye, egg, and cheese biscuit from Hardees while she was still in bed, She did not find it to be an acceptable Valentines Day gift on the grounds that it was not romantic enough. As the day went on I could tell she was not content so I jumped in the car that night and got her a few flowers at Walmart. Again, I hate Valentines Day.

We live in such a consumer driven society that the corporations have turned almost every holiday into an arms race where the bar is continuously raised as to how much money you have to spend. All the advertisers want you to think that if you do not spend a ton of money then you are a bad significant other and you do not care about the woman you are in a relationship with. There is a reason that women go out of their way to be in relationships on Valentines Day and men see it as a good time to be single. For men, if things are not going all that well, they make sure and break that shit off before February 14 if they know what is good for them.

Tonight I will bring my wife home dinner and give her a few gifts I recently purchased, and I will pray its enough. On second thought, maybe I should buy a few flowers. Flowers are the biggest waste of money on the planet. Women get them and then what do they do with them? Nothing. They put them in some water and wait for them to die, but they desire them just so they don't feel shortchanged. Maybe I should get her some form of chocolate too. She likes that. I just need to make sure I do enough because I do not want to face the consequences.

This is a fear based holiday if I have ever seen one. And don't even get me started on Mothers Day. For that one I not only have to worry about her, but other women as well. That should be a blast.