#DecolonizingLove 🫀Valentines' Day is Not for Everyone, and that's OK!

❤️Multiple things can be true at once: We can respect the value that Valentine’s Day holds for many people, and how it is regarded by many as a special opportunity to celebrate their loved ones… 

🖤…while also acknowledging the way Valentine’s Day, as well as the current global ‘culture’ of love’ and ‘dating’ have been co-opted in many ways by capitalism, putting intense pressure on people to perform ‘love’ and ‘partnership’ in ways that are not necessarily fulfilling to, or inclusive of, everyone.

💌 We wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate - but also hold space for those who do not. On a day that capitalists have co-opted to make people feel like they are ‘unloved’ or ‘not enough’ unless they subscribe to…

• …conspicuous consumption,

• …expected performances of love and relationships (even when they do not feel fulfilling or necessary)

• …social pressures to engage in relationships centered around imposed norms (e.g. cis/het normativity, and the capitalist construct of a ‘nuclear family’)

…we send you our unconditional love, and affirm that we are all, indeed, enough!

🙌 We validate and send our unconditional love to all who…

• …are happily (or unhappily) ‘single.’ 

• ...are grieving, and/or freshly heartbroken.

• ...have been made to feel like their expressions of love are invalid, ‘too much,’ or ‘not enough.’

• ...face heightened systemic exploitation as a result of Valentine’s Day Capitalism, e.g. service workers, sex workers.

• ...yearn for real, straightforward, human love, but feel discouraged due to various barriers to loving and dating freely in this era.

• ...identify as LGBTQIAN+, who might not feel safe or free to express love how they want to.

• ...identify as aro/ace, who might face heightened identity-based gaslighting during this time.

• …are single parents, who might feel the weight of their responsibilities a little extra today.

• …are survivors, e.g. of relationship-related abuse, who might have complicated feelings about this holiday.

🫶 Today, and every day, let’s remember that:

• There is no single, ‘right’ way to love or be loved, or to be in a partnership.

• While gifts might have a price tag, true love does not.

• We can celebrate love every day - we do not need to wait for Valentine’s Day.

• Not everyone needs, wants, or is in a romantic relationship.

• Non-romantic love is valid, human, and sacred.

• You do not need to be in a partnership to be ‘enough.’ You are enough, just as you are.

#WeAreManushyan ♾️ Equal Human Beings