Are MEN treated equally on Valentine’s Day?
Whether or not Saint Valentine was a patron of love, romantics have come to celebrate February 14 as the day of romance, candy, and Cupid. It’s a day when passions run wild and we find creative ways, guided by our love languages, to express our love and adoration for our significant others.
But, while the sacred time of boxes of chocolates, flowers, expensive gifts, and candlelight dinners is supposedly dedicated to the celebration of both sexes, more men are arguing that Cupid’s day has become gender-specific, and the proof is in the heavily marketed pre-packaged gifts and V-day staples that they believe are skewed to the fairer sex.
Do you feel that men are treated equally on Valentine’s Day? A few men share:
Matthew, 43, Engineer:
Men are not treated equally on Valentine’s Day. The pressure is really on us to perform on the day, and not just in the bedroom. We should buy our women fancy gifts and all and maybe, just maybe, she will dress up for us and put a little extra effort into bedroom playtime.
Odane, 29, IT consultant:
No, we are not. It’s a broader issue in society, and women these days think that men aren’t valuable and should be treated in a certain kind of way. A part of it is based on the quality of men out there, but a large part of it is based on how women think men should be treated. Most women have the mindset that men should take care of them, and they should just receive. As a result, they don’t know how to treat/love a man.
Andre, 30, police officer:
No, men are not treated equally. Women are at a stage where they think men should take special care with treating them well. Most times the only thing women give in return is a little show in the bedroom — and most times the men are the ones who buy the lingerie for them to do it — because they think sex is all men care about and should be their gift to men every holiday.
Be honest: How many times in your various workplaces do you see anything being delivered to a man from his woman on Valentine’s Day? I guarantee most people will say never. Women are continuously on the expecting end; this is a problem. She will either call him mean or accuse him of doing it for another woman if she does not receive a gift.
Sherwin, 40, business owner:
Well, honestly, I cannot say that from a personal standpoint. My wife is good with choosing gifts, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. But, in general, most times it’s guys I see making, I would say, the most effort. And if you notice all the memes have those jabs that attack men, I would say, who are not really in the V-day celebration business.
Jason, teacher, 35:
Men are not treated equally on Valentine’s Day. The day has been commercialised on a selling point that is largely about catering to women, in my perception. From the naked eye, I would say it’s an 80:20 ratio of women to men who get catered to on Valentine’s Day.