Let's boycott flowers this Valentine's day

[sharptoothlemonshark]

Why are we still indulging in this outdated misogynistic behaviour of men giving women flowers and women accepting them?

The industry is rotten to the core, with women in Africa getting their lungs burnt out by pesticides so women in Western Europe can look at something useless but "pretty" ( - if you consider the forced, unnaturally bred genetically mutated exaggerations "pretty").

The environmental damage done by transporting them from country to country is immeasurable, never mind the sacrifice of land that could be used to grow food and lower food prices.

And how is it people who object to pesticides being used to grow food are ok with soil being smothered in the stuff to grow flowers? It all enters the same water course.

And what a waste of money it is! Surely your partners could use the money or something more personal and thoughtful?

YABU - I like receiving forced, genetically mutilated, unnatural instruments of environmental damage and disabling of women.

YANBU - lets inform our partners these are not acceptable Valentine's day gifts.

Clearly they do. Selfish AF.

With all due respect you're talking bollocks.

A few questions for you, OP.

Maximising profit. Isn't that how businesses work?

What evidence do you have to support your claim of no flower growing = more food growing?

Wouldn't commercial food production result in more unemployment of women because it can be more mechanised?

Where exploitation and poor safety of workers are endemic, what makes you assume that this will change if food was grown instead of flowers?

Does large scale growing of food require less chemical use?

The elephant in the room that you are reluctant to acknowledge is a lack of safety regulations, inadequate employment laws to protect workers, and often corrupt governments in developing countries.

Hope everyone r enjoyed their flowers today!

I bought my first British daffodils of the year 😊

Is there anything left that we are allowed to not feel guilty about?

The poster is trying to do the right thing by supporting a small local business, as we're all constantly told we should be doing..."No! Not that small local business!"

We live in Cornwall so we buy fresh flowers. Daffs right now, they're out in all the hedgerows. Escaped snowdrops have colonised the canal bank I walked yesterday. And alstromeria are grown commercially within a five mile radius, so a few quid gets you an eyeful of colour for a fortnight. There's no need to fly flowers from Colombia. But most of the supermarket slowers sold in the UK come from glasshouses and fields in the Netherlands.

Cornwall was the first commercial flower growing region, and the first to grow tomatoes commercially. It's the reason there's a rail connection to London. The village I live in grew and picked spring flowers, packed them during the day and put them on the overnight train to be sold at Covent Garden in the morning. By 1910, it was possible to have Monday's picked flowers on sale in London on Tuesday morning.

We could have more food if fewer crops died due to pests and diseases, and if the food production and supply systems were improved. Those problems won’t be solved by stopping growing flowers.
Flowers are not altogether a luxury: they’re part of ecosystems. And anyway, there’s nothing wrong with a small luxury every so often.
And there’s nothing wrong with pesticides in general. Some are dangerous I grant you, so should not be used — and that is why they are banned in many places. But we need to keep pests from destroying food crops somehow.

Woman to woman here, from me to you. I really do think you should get some very strong painkillers for the seriously heavy period you were on when you created that post!

How can it be seen as men hating women? I love flowers/plants and if a man is thoughtful enough to give me even just one single flower or a bunch of them then I'll love it/them and will look after them.

I'd much rather a man give me flowers or plants than underwear which I do find sexist as it's just for him, not her.

Please, get a life!

I love receiving flowers. But I would be just as happy to get daffodils from the garden as some crazy wild bouquet! All flowers are nice and it's the thought that counts.

Jesus wept. Woman to woman? Heavy period? The irony!