You can’t escape Valentine’s Day, a social and retail ritual involving exchanges of cards, flowers, chocolates, candy, and an exhaustive, sometimes expensive list of other gifts, many in eye-searing blasts of red and pink.
Feb. 14 is a cultural observance of romance and affection in the United States, and we have the receipts to prove it. Consumer spending on Valentine’s Day is expected to exceed $29 billion this year, a record.
There are different interpretations of Valentine's Day, according to Pepper Schwartz, professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle and the author of 25 books on love, sexuality and commitment.
"The commercial romance of Valentine's Day is, hey, remind somebody that you love them and show it," she says.
The genuine observance is "an act of love that makes them know that you care," Schwartz says. "Not a cynical performance of love – it's supposed to be a real sense of connection."
