Valentines Day & the Single

[Thorium Girl]

 

Could Valentine’s Day possibly be the worst day of the year for singles?

Personally Valentines Day is just another hallmark holiday on the calendar for me, but I was prompted to question the possibility of whether or not Valentines Day could be detrimental to the mental health of singles, by a single male friend of mine.

My friend stated he would be updating his status on face book with “for every display of public affection I see on V-Day I will stab a kitten”. Mortified at the possibility of senseless slaughter of innocent kittens, I probed further. It became apparent that he was truly depressed at the prospect of spending another Valentines Day without a significant other. He felt that the murder of kittens and the pulling of the heart strings of others when he did, would only just touch on the pain he felt each time he saw lovers and their obvious happiness on the day of love.

 

 

I had to know, is it really so horrible to be alone on V-Day? I mean, singles are without significant others every day, what makes Valentines Day so much more depressing than any other day?

It appears to me that this hallmark event was more of a concern for men as the majority of people talking about V-Day were male, and the feelings about it ranged from heavily depressed, to excited about the gifts for their valentine, to how much it was going to cost them.  

 

Statistics on the purchase of Valentines Day flowers show 76% of all purchases are made by men and 24% by women. 15% of women admitted to having sent them to themselves.

Valentines Day became popularized in the Victorian era as a day of love, when you shared your affections with that someone special through gifts or proclamations, some from secret admirers. This has now become the second biggest hallmark holiday of the year behind Christmas and a highly commercialized and materialistic event and by today’s standards the romanticized secret admirer might be seen as a stalker.

So why is this so depressing? Society seems geared towards the couple, they celebrate engagements, weddings, and anniversaries, there are no celebrations for the single, and you don’t get a ‘five years and still single party’ or a ‘congratulations on your divorce welcome back to single life’. In fact couples try to avoid you, or inviting you, to their very couple orientated events, the older you get and longer you are single the more people talk like something is wrong with you ‘don’t worry the right girl/guy will come along’.

 

Evidence suggests, Single = Bad. Valentines Day Alone = Worse than Bad. 

Take a look at any events calendar for Valentines Day there is barely an event that is not couple orientated or not some kind of speed dating, again subconsciously telling the single there is something wrong.

Looking at statistics in Australia Couples vs. Singles at a ratio of 49% to 51% and the events are geared toward the couples? The age groups that are concerned most about being single are 30-55’s and oddly enough suicides are highest between 30-39 for men and 35-45 for women with the male suicide rate three times higher than women each year.

 

Are any of these observations linked to Valentines Day and the single person? Food for thought.

 

The above mentioned kittens were actually an idle threat and no kittens will be slaughtered on Valentines Day. 

 

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[Citizen Journalist]

As someone allergic to cats, i fully support the slaughter of kittens if helps someone get through the day! Thanks for the article ThoriumGirl i think you have become the Iseeireportnews Carrie Bradshaw! :-)

[Thorium Girl]

Dog owner myself, Carrie Bradshaw, less the Mr Big and hopefully the over the top drama lol, maybe just for this article lol