I spoke with Feministing’s executive editor, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, back in February 2012 
about the romantic industrial complex and her ‘Occupy Valentine’s Day’ initiative. She wrote, in a blog post:
In an effort to push the bounds of that exclusivity that so many of us feel on Valentine’s day, I wanted to think about the ways we can rethink love and romance to resemble who we are, as singles, couples and community. Celebrating love is a beautiful thing but shouldn’t depend on if we are in a relationship or not, our sexual orientation, our class background, our citizenship status or our marital status.
Mukhopadhyay’s response to the romantic industrial complex and to many of the sexist and heteronormative messages perpetuated by Valentine’s Day was to start a tumblr called Occupy Valentine’s Day. On it, she compiled photos and notes from folks from all around describing the ways they were challenging those dominant messages.
Mukhopadhyay is the author of Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life. This interview originally aired on Vancouver Co-op Radio on February 13, 2012.
Listen to that interview below:
