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Don’t let it be said that the dudes of the manosphere aren’t ready for Valentine’s Day. Oh, they haven’t been ordering little teddy bears and giant bouquets of flowers for their sweeties. They’ve been getting ready to throw a fit at the very notion of the ersatz holiday.
Marc Rudov, a self-described MRA, “relationship expert” and all-around asshole, has been trying to organize a boycott of VD for several years now. “There’s nothing romantic about coercing men to oblige female entitlement,” Rudov recently told AOL News. “Valentine’s Day artificially and unilaterally caters to women. It’s the media’s annual male-bashing fest.”
Over on The Spearhead, grizzled MRA veteran Zed has written not one but two articles attacking VD, which he describes as “Extortion of Insincere Materialistic Tokens of Affection Under Threat of Emotional Violence Day.” Meanwhile, Paul Elam — never one for subtlety — has one-upped old Zed, denouncing the holiday as “a socially coerced day of hyper-entitlement for a generation of princess leeches.” Endorsing Rudov’s boycott, Elam seems especially incensed by the omnipresent “Every Kiss Begins With Kay” ads that clutter the airwaves every year as VD approaches.
One commenter at The Spearhead summons up his inner comedian:
There’ two types of VD. One is a potentially serious affliction that can be caught from sexual relations with a woman. Symptoms include tiredness, lack of sex drive, acute pain in the groin region and loss of work productivity. It’s difficult to treat as the parasite responsible is very demanding and difficult to get rid of.
The other is a bacterial infection treatable with antibiotics and rest.
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| Marc Rudov: Trying to hypnotize you with his teeth. |
It’s almost cute, all this energy and anger. These guys seem to really think that they’re the first people to ever have an issue with Valentine’s day, the first people to ever get irritated by “every kiss begins with Kay.”
But, guess what? Lots of people hate Valentine’s day. I generally find it pretty annoying myself, and the Kay commercials, which basically suggest that the women of America are jewel-hungry prostitutes and the men their johns, set my teeth a-grinding. Granted, I’m generally been most hostile to VD when I’ve been single, but when a couple of years ago I discovered that my then-girlfriend was a really really really big fan of the holiday (and not a fan of my more laid-back approach to it) it was actually one of the things that led me to break up with her a few weeks later.
You know who else hates Valentine’s day and the blizzard of retrograde sexist advertising that accompanies it? Lots and lots of women, especially those of the feminist persuasion, who generally don’t take kindly to the insinuation that women are diamond whores. Indeed, a couple of weeks back, hundreds of the mostly women of Reddit’s TwoXChromosomes subreddit happily upvoted a topic with the title “If I see one more freakin’ “Every Kiss Begins with Kay” commercial I am going to find whoever is responsible for that nonsense and take a big fat poop on his face. “
Hell, Valentine’s Day hatred is everywhere. In the London Times, Helen McNutt — a woman, if her first name is any indication — spelled out “20 reasons it’s okay to hate Valentine’s Day.” Meanwhile, the Onion News Network ran a hilarious piece on the “Annual Valentine’s Day Stoning Of a Happy Couple .”
And if you want your VD hatred live and direct, you can always monitor Twitter for bitter anti-VD tweets.
Indeed, VD hatred has become so omnipresent that the folks at Slate, hoping to gin up some pageviews with some well-timed contrarianism, ran a piece — get this — actually defending the holiday. “I’m almost afraid to say it,” the piece began, “I have plans for Valentine’s Day. … If I’m lucky, there may even be chocolate and flowers involved.”
Like a lot of VD haters, I have plans for February 15th. They definitely involve chocolate, bought at a steep discount.
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>you know the thing about valentines day is that yes it is nice to know that there is one day set aside of every year to celebrate our love for another person, but in reality you should be celebrating that love for each other every single day you are together. The big over the top romantic gestures that people (women included, I really don't think that guys get how much money some women spend on the lingerie for valentines day) are just that. Gestures which cheapen your love for each other and reduce it to material things. My sweetie and I celebrate our love for each other in much smaller more heart felt ways all year round and forgo normal valentines day celebrations. We will usually go and see the vagina monologues together on vd though if it's being performed then in our area, but nothing else. Oh and I hate diamonds with a passion
>LOLI can't concentrate from laughing at that caption about that guy's teeth. LMAO. I'll try harder…going back for another try.
>Princess Leeches would be a good name for a rock band.
>I also celebrate National Discount Chocolate Day.
>This reminds me, I have to go get chocolates for my staff.I would prefer to give them raises but damn you county government!
>I remember, in high school, clubs would sell carnations and cheap chocolate to students to give to their sweethearts. It was sickening and, of course, the fat feminist cutie never got one. So, when I graduated and went into college, I decided Valentines day was going to be "Annual Love Myself" and so I never hated VD again. I don't like getting flowers anyway. And I really don't dig on diamonds or jewelry. I'm always in the mood for chocolate though, but discount chocolate always tastes best, especially coming out of a heart-shaped box as I lie in a bubble bath with a book.I have a boyfriend now, and nothing's changed. We figure that it's better to love each other as much as possible every day, not just a couple days a year.
>You know, I don’t really disagree with the premise that "Valentine's Day artificially and unilaterally caters to women". I’d bet my comic book collection that most of the candy, flowers, and jewellery that is sold to the consumer is bought by men for women, or women for women. But I thin k that’s because a lot of men (and especially THESE men) have a serious phobia of being considered an object of romance or love by a woman. I mean VD guy is so horrified by the idea he thinks it’s a STD. I mean if a woman paid for a fancy dinner, and bought a new watch and some of those candy hearts he liked, he would OWE her, in much the same way that bitch he took for dinner and didn’t put out owes him. And I think that’s what freaks them out, really. (And I’m gonna say it: I love Valentines Day, boyfriend hates it, and so like every other holiday out of the year, we compromised. I’m taking him out for dinner, there will be no Mushy Stuff, and I’ll pay the bill.)
>It's good to know that they don't mind the over commercialization of other events, um,like, i don't know ..-the Super Bowl. Nope, no one is ever trying to sell people crap they don't need then. Never happens! I don't get mad when people only celebrate/appreciate their country on the 4th of July, why get all bent out of shape when people get into VD? And if that's peoples attitudes, why have Memorial day? Aren't we supposed to think about Veterans all year around? Should we also get rid of Mothers and Fathers day? ** Sarcasm** I think it's great that people want to celebrate their love. Nothing wrong with that unless you're with the wrong person. It's funny how people's minds change once they're with the right person. LOL. They get all gushy. It's funny. And it doesn't have to be expensive. And plus as many others above have pointed out, cheap chocolate! yummy.
>Interesting.When a woman lives with an abusive husband or boyfriend, MRA's say it's her own fault for choosing him in the first place, and anyway, it's not like anyone is forcing her to live with him.When a man buys a woman a $20 meal in order to get into her pants (or so his thinking goes), MRA's all go "OMG, she's FORCING him to cater to her entitlement!!" Because, apparently, having a vagina is the equivalent of putting a gun to a man's head and taking his wallet.
>Because, apparently, having a vagina is the equivalent of putting a gun to a man's head and taking his wallet. I'm pretty sure that's why so many MRAs are wary of cunnilingus.
>Valentines day always makes me pukey. It always is an ode to upperclass white monogamous heterosexuality.Though, funnily enough, I have had a fight over my refusual to celebrate it (I refuse to celebrate a number of holidays for a number of reasons). I was seeing someone fairly casually, and they whined about how I just let valentines day pass by. I laughed and informed them that my birthday was the week before. I did not care about no gift, because we weren't serious, but it was funny for someone to ask for a valentine's gift after missing the birthday.
>The more I read MRA rants, the more I am struck by the fact that they actually have many of the same beefs as feminism; however, an MRA would rather blame a woman/blame feminism. I suppose because it saves them some possibly uncomfortable introspection.
>amused, don't you remember, we are nasty and our vaginas are disgusting because we use bc!
>Today I came home to the most amazing gift. My wife purchased a jellyfish aquarium for my office!!!!! What an amazing gift.We don't celebrate with gifts any holidays including birthdays, sometimes though we suprise each other with something we know the other will love. I doubt I can ever top this one though.. (I guess you can tell I love watching jellyfish).
>According to a survey by American Greetings Corp., 85% of Valentine's Day cards are purchased by women.
>In Japan, Valentine's Day is more a time for women to give men chocolate than the other way around.
>If we were honest, we would admit that the only people frustrated or critical of valentine's day are people who either don't have a valentine, don't have the gumption to get one, or are in a less than stellar relationship and feel, somehow, rejected by the whole event.
>*sigh* Not really in response to your post, though thank you for that. :DWHY must people propagate the idea that people only don't like valentines because they're single/whatever?Nope, really no and huh? Strangely, it is entirely possible for people to have different opinions to you. Admittedly I get the feeling valentines day is pushed a lot more in the US than here (NZ). And I don't watch TV or anything so at most I get disgusted at some seriously creepy and sexist radio ads for buying women expensive jewellery. :PBut I have never liked valentines day, and would really be uncomfortable with a partner who was really into it. I like to buy presents because I saw something and thought of them, and receive them for the same reason. I'm in a long term monogamous hetro relationship with someone I love very much, and we've never celebrated valentines day. OTOH the 14 Feb is my (kid) brother's birthday so I associate it much more with that. 🙂
>Hmm, no bonus laugh in the comments. Have all the misogynists given up on this blog?
>"If we were honest, we would admit that the only people frustrated or critical of valentine's day are people who either don't have a valentine, don't have the gumption to get one, or are in a less than stellar relationship and feel, somehow, rejected by the whole event."or we're not all into consumerismor we're not American, and as such VD is literally "foreign" to us and remains so after moving to the USno, no, it must be the "single" thing.
>I think it's all fine to say that we should show people that we love them all throughout the year, but I think some people do need the kick in the pants that VD provides. Also, I have fond memories of it in grade school, where we made cool boxes to put the obligatory cards into, had heart-shaped treats (one year a mom made ALL of us small, heart-shaped cakes–not cupcakes, but 6-8" wide cakes–decorated with pink frosting and candy hearts), and basically got an afternoon off of schoolwork. It was fun.
>oh, I have "fond memories" of VD from High-School, too. no cards, no pressure to date (well, no dating at all, we didn't do that), no expensive gifts, but some organization came in to our school every year and handed out free condoms.
>and the sad part is that feminism is seen as a rights movement while misogyny is a hate crime. let's redefine 14th feb as the day of misogyny."misogynyis our support systemjust like girls have their.little dogs and oversized pursesand a feminist girlfriend.what do we have?bar room brawl and a cheap song.to forget yesterdaywe need hate."here's my clarion call.
>"what do we have?bar room brawl and a cheap song."Well, I'm sorry that you feel you have such limited options. Of course, if you'd stop whining for a moment, you'd realize you do. But doing that would involve far more effort than whining, I suppose.There's no need to hate – you choose to hate, instead of doing something useful.
>"When a man buys a woman a $20 meal in order to get into her pants (or so his thinking goes), MRA's all go "OMG, she's FORCING him to cater to her entitlement!!"—AmusedGross assumption about MRAs in general. Not every one of them thinks that way. But we know how you view them, nevertheless.I swear your feminists and your hypocrisy never cease. You really make the majority of the MRAs out there look reasonable by comparison. I'ms serious. There are MGTOW that think men who still cater to women's every whim and fancy (and let them walk all over them) are suckers. So they often place the onus on some men who simply don't learn not to let entitlement-minded women exploit them. There's a certain amount of truth to above. If a woman tried to use me as a walking ATM and bossed me around like a serf, I'd tell her to take a hike and never speak to her again. Who needs to be treated like that? I'd rather be single and proud than be looked upon as dogmeat.