The students of Plymouth South High School in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the last seven years have been celebrating Valentine's Day by having the boys stand in the bleachers and raise their right arms to pledge that they will never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women. --Family Nonviolence
At yourdictionary.com is this definition of Valentine's Day:
February 14, celebrated in various American and European countries by the exchange of valentines or love tokens.
Wikipedia defines Valentine's Day and gives a brief history:
St. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The history of Valentine's day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day, in honor of Saint Valentine. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of romantic love was formulated.
The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards.
And the practice of exchanging greeting cards seems to have largely given way to the practice of men giving gifts and other expressions of love to women. Valentine's Day, by all accounts, has become a mini-Christmas for women only. Says Joy Behar on today's ABC show "The View," "I feel this [Valentine's Day] is only male to female." That idea is reinforced by radio and TV ads for February 14. Virtually all suggest items which men can buy for women, as in a Yahoo! ad that is captured by Don't Make Her Mad and which lets men know "What Women Want."
I wonder how, in our 35-year-old dogged pursuit of gender equality, Valentine's Day evolved from the more gender-neutral custom of exchanging special treatment, as YourDictionary.com says, to the gender-biased custom of expecting men to bestow special treatment on wives and girlfriends?
In any case, Valentine's Day may undergo yet another evolution. Many ideological feminists have stopped calling it Valentines' Day and now call it V-Day, short for Vagina Day. V-Day, according to its site, is “a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.” (Is it possible that by now the rapidly growing, massive crowds of those trying to stop violence against females are bumping into each other and fighting over funds and territory?) But although V-Day purportedly aims to stop violence against females, its true purpose, I believe, is to establish female moral superiority. How can one not conclude this in V-Day's message: men commit violence, women don't. (For a more balanced view on gender violence, see “Letter to Judiciary Committees on the Violence Against Women Act.” You may also want to search my blog for “violence” in the search window above right.)
So now we have this: traditional folk have turned Valentine's Day into a mini-Christmas for wives and girlfriends, and V-Day feminists have turned it into a time to ponder their vaginas, wail about violence against women, and thrash men. (Actually, ideological feminists don't need a special day to thrash men, since they do it year-round.)
Ah, yes! “Gender equality” has finally besieged us!
_______
For more on V-Day, see:
The Vagina Monologues Exposed: A Student's Guide to V-Day (PDF)
Valentine's Day is now feminist political vehicle in the gender wars
The 'Feminist' V-Day
V-Day meets P-Day on campus
Young women equally likely to violently attack partners
V-Day Hypocrisy at Roger Williams University
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International women's day provides yet another opportunity to ignore the
plight of men in today's world. Oxfam, the international charity, is
planning a series of events across the world celebrating women's lives and
ignoring the lives of men. All these events will be paid by the taxpayer,
the majority of whom are men. Here's a senior Oxfam manager- Antonia Bance
who also happens to be a Labour Party politician- writing on her blog about
a particular group of men: "the fathers’ rights movement are mainly
misogynists".
Oxfam's celebrations on International Women's Day include the following:
Oxfam House: