Around the Dial: Valentine's Day Edition

What's going on in the feminist blogosphere today on Valentine's Day? A twirl of the radio knob and we'll find out...

Some of these posts do not have specifically feminist content, but are authored by feminist bloggers. Enjoy!

• Arbusto de Mendacity, Someday my prince will come: "Valentine's Day has always felt so hollow, so insincere, and yet, a la vez, so exclusionary and harsh to those who fall outside of the purview of what it commemorates. So, even tho I have a really exciting date esta noche, no quiero pensarlo as one that is only made possible by highlighting how much better I am as a coupled person than everyone who isn't." (Hat-tip: Woman of Color Blog.)
• Jo(e)'s Page, Valentine's Day Meme: First crush: "Young as I was, I can remember tucking away this nugget of information: boys like it when you insult them. How very peculiar."
• Shakespeare's Sister, My Valentine: "In retrospect, it seems impossibly crazy - and thoroughly unlikely. A brief online encounter between two people, 4,000 miles apart. Emails, IMs, phone calls. Exchanged pictures. Books sent through the mail. Foolish convictions that it would all translate seamlessly into real life when we finally met."
• Fiat Lux, Grumpy Valentine's Day: "And yes I know, V-Day is a totally artificial holiday, I have a wonderful husband who loves me very much and shows it on a regular basis, yadda yadda. I know all of that. That does not change how I feel. If I can find the time to pick out a card for him, he should be able to do it too."
• The Geeky Feminist, Happy Valentine's Day: "Yeah, the year is 2006. Someone shoot me." (Hat-tip: I Blame the Patriarchy.)
• The Dees Diversion, A Case of Heart:"Today, Valentine's Day, is as good a day as any to talk about the elusive quality we refer to as "heart." And while I hate the fact that practically every discussion in America is reduced to a sports metaphor, this is, after all, the Winter Olympics, and nowhere can we find more heart than in the field of figure skating."
• Jill at Feministe, Happy Valentine's Day: "I've never been able to get worked up enough about Valentine's day to care if I don't have a date, and it's a Hallmark holiday, it doesn't reflect what love really is, and blah blah blah. But I still like it. It's fun to have one day a year when, if you're with someone, you can do something that you'll both remember, simply by virtue of it falling on this one day."
• Pseudo-Adrienne's Liberal-Feminist Bias, V-Day!!!: "V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations." (You can read more at the V-Day site.)
• The Happy Feminist, Short Valentine's Day Post: "Hmmm... all around the mass media and blogosphere, there are references to people 'stressing out' over Valentine's Day. People are stressing out because they don't want to be single on Valentine's Day or they are stressing out because they are not single and they want to make sure that their relationships meet the test of the day."

Hmmmm.

Finally, see Media Girl, Got Romance? about The Second Annual Feminist Valentine Blog Awards (details for submissions).

Melinda Casino, Contributing Editor, Feminism & Gender
Sour Duck / Sour Duck's Link Blog