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Why are we still indulging in this outdated misogynistic behaviour of men giving women flowers and women accepting them?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

Accident black-spots also come in handy.

Outside Buckingham Palace in 2022 was handy too I'd have thought.

Hear hear.

Thanks for this thread, I'll have a read up on this, genuinely had no idea!

Buy seasonally, sustainably and sensibly..

Moving st valentine's day to later in the year would mean locally grown flowers might be available.

Relying on other countries to produce the things we want means they often do the damage for us.
Water use, chemicals, whilst giving some local income you can bet there's someone getting rich off growing flowers for us.

Are there fare trade flowers?

Yes me too!!

And also for Mother's Day.....and over Easter

I may even go to the garden centre for a few things too

I voted YABU simply because in all the years I've been on MN I have never seen such a blatently rigged voting option!

(BTW my DW and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. Never have and never will do).

Moving st valentine's day to later in the year would mean locally grown flowers might be available.

Daffodils are local aren't they? Maybe tulips or is it early?

You are making a very valid point, but lecturing and getting people's backs up is not the way to do it.

So no, no 'boycotting' from me

I can buy myself flowers

<considers comment about Kensington Palace in 1997 and fears it may be too soon>

You do you, OP. Hopefully the worldwide flower industry won't collapse as a result.

I don't have a garden or any private outdoor space. My flowers come from the farm where I work. And no one buys me flowers - if I want them I have to get my own.

Fairtrade flowers are shipped from Africa. They have less of a carbon footprint than blooms flown from the Netherlands.Fairtrade flowers

Slightly boggled as to how you'd 'move' a saint's day?

There are tons of locally grown flowers available in the UK in February. Obviously there's been a bit of discussion of fair trade flowers already, but it's perfectly possible to buy flowers grown right here, without worrying about anything else.

Slightly boggled as to how you'd 'move' a saint's day?

Does anyone observe it as a saint's day? Seems more a consumerist Hallmark holiday to me.

You sound batshit and please if you haven't yet reproduced then please don't 👍

Mine too. And I know how to bud and graft without chemical input. And multi-petalled roses occur naturally in nature anyway.
I love flowers. My DH loves flowers and I buy them for him and he buys them for me. Lovely tulips from Norfolk, Cornish narcissi, Gladdies from Lincolnshire, chrysanths from all over the place. And I buy flowers even though I have a huge garden full of flowers because I love flowers andI love being given flowers. I'm very well aware of the Kenyan flower market which is why I don't buy them. I agree that it's a worthwhile thing to get antsy about OP.
But please don't come over like the floricultural Stasi and tell me I shouldn't be growing historic roses or 19th century French peonies, or old cottage primroses because they have too many petals. Or that I shouldn't like pretty things - that's patronising and an insult to, well, just about everybody with any aesthetic sensibility.

Moving st valentine's day to later in the year would mean locally grown flowers might be available.

What have I just read?! 😂😂

Absolutely true, which is why I was confused about the suggestion of moving 'St Valentine's Day,' rather than its secular offshoot.

But please don't come over like the floricultural Stasi and tell me I shouldn't be growing historic roses or 19th century French peonies, or old cottage primroses because they have too many petals. Or that I shouldn't like pretty things - that's patronising and an insult to, well, just about everybody with any aesthetic sensibility.

This is so niche, but I think you/ some other posters on this thread may enjoy it - did you know that in Shakespeare's time, people railed against certain kinds of 'new' flowers because they thought they were perversions of nature? IIRC double primroses come in the firing line, and all sorts of 'sterile' hybrids.

Exactly, nothing religious or about a Saint for 99.99999 % of the population these days. Mother's day and father's day have very different dates depending on the country you live in, by the way.

I love receiving flowers. They cheer me up, and bring some brightness into my house. Don't tell me, or other women, what we should like.

I love daffodils the best (which are not shipped thousands of miles), plus DP is welsh so it seems apt anyway. I have never been a fan of roses.

If that makes me a misogynist, well so be it.

Wow, you just set back women's rights by at least 10 years from that post alone 😉

I would much rather boycott aggressive thread starters who believe themselves and their views to be so important that they can lecture others on what they should or shouldn't be doing!