Social Justice Valentine
Donation protected
A Social Justice Alternative Valentine
This Valentine's Day, fight human trafficking.
Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged in the name of St. Valentine. After St. Valentine's death on February 14, 269 C.E., February 14 gradually became the date for exchanging love sentiments and St. Valentine became the patron saint of love. Sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers marked the date. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Today, Valentine's Day has become a highly commercialized capitalist tool of retailers, profiting on stereotypical gender roles. This is one of the few times a year when flowers suddenly triple in price. According to the National Retail Federation, the average person will shell out close to $125 on traditional VDay merchandise and this number goes up every year. Total holiday spending is expected to reach nearly $16 billion. In a time of such economic hardship for so many, it is simply obscene to spend so much money to express love.
According to the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Person's Report of 2007, an estimated $9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from all trafficking. That's less than what Americans will spend on Valentine's Day. Imagine the impact we would have if we simply refused to succumb to the commercialization of love and affection and instead pledged our dollars to eliminating the commodification of women and children.
Before buying that box of chocolate, think about the fact that much of the chocolate available in retail stores is made with cocoa from Ivory Coast plantations that use trafficked children (U.S. Department of State, 2011). This Valentine's Day, take a stand against the commercialization of love, women, and children. Instead of an expensive gift, chocolate obtained through child labor, or over-priced flowers, donate to the Purple Rose Campaign against trafficking on behalf of your loved one.
Launched in the US on February 14, 1999, the Purple Rose Campaign is an international campaign against the trafficking of women and children. The icon of the purple rose was selected because this flower was artificially created and exoticized, for no other purpose than to satisfy desire. It is no different from other roses and yet remains apart, because it does not exist in nature and was not a product of evolution. So are the women in the sex trade: artificially created and exoticized--willed to be apart and different to satisfy desire and to be sold for profit.
Your donation will support the work of AF3IRM, a transnational feminist organization that has been working to end trafficking for the last 25 years. For more information about AF3IRM and the Purple Rose Campaign, visit www.af3irm.org.
This Valentine's Day, fight human trafficking.
Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged in the name of St. Valentine. After St. Valentine's death on February 14, 269 C.E., February 14 gradually became the date for exchanging love sentiments and St. Valentine became the patron saint of love. Sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers marked the date. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Today, Valentine's Day has become a highly commercialized capitalist tool of retailers, profiting on stereotypical gender roles. This is one of the few times a year when flowers suddenly triple in price. According to the National Retail Federation, the average person will shell out close to $125 on traditional VDay merchandise and this number goes up every year. Total holiday spending is expected to reach nearly $16 billion. In a time of such economic hardship for so many, it is simply obscene to spend so much money to express love.
According to the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Person's Report of 2007, an estimated $9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from all trafficking. That's less than what Americans will spend on Valentine's Day. Imagine the impact we would have if we simply refused to succumb to the commercialization of love and affection and instead pledged our dollars to eliminating the commodification of women and children.
Before buying that box of chocolate, think about the fact that much of the chocolate available in retail stores is made with cocoa from Ivory Coast plantations that use trafficked children (U.S. Department of State, 2011). This Valentine's Day, take a stand against the commercialization of love, women, and children. Instead of an expensive gift, chocolate obtained through child labor, or over-priced flowers, donate to the Purple Rose Campaign against trafficking on behalf of your loved one.
Launched in the US on February 14, 1999, the Purple Rose Campaign is an international campaign against the trafficking of women and children. The icon of the purple rose was selected because this flower was artificially created and exoticized, for no other purpose than to satisfy desire. It is no different from other roses and yet remains apart, because it does not exist in nature and was not a product of evolution. So are the women in the sex trade: artificially created and exoticized--willed to be apart and different to satisfy desire and to be sold for profit.
Your donation will support the work of AF3IRM, a transnational feminist organization that has been working to end trafficking for the last 25 years. For more information about AF3IRM and the Purple Rose Campaign, visit www.af3irm.org.
Organizer
Emelyn Dela Pena
Organizer
Watertown, MA
