Students Urge a Broad Approach to Love on Valentine’s Day
Graphic by Katie Posey
Students at UC Santa Barbara say they wish to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year by expanding the definition of love and romance that is ordinarily marketed to the public on February 14th.
In a series of impromptu on-campus interviews, several students said they believe Valentine’s Day should apply to friendships, parents and siblings, and LGBTQ+ relationships — not merely the traditional male-female couplings that have tended to typify the mid-winter celebration.
“Love comes in many forms. It’s not just the strict ‘you have to have a partner.’ There’s friends. There’s many kinds of love,” said one student. Others urged the UCSB community to give flowers and chocolates to parents and BFF’s.
An LGBTQ+ Perspective of Valentine’s Day
Yuri Fraccaroli, a UCSB graduate student in the Feminist Studies department, sat down for a podcast interview with UCSB Humanities and Fine Arts Division student intern Faith Harvey. They discussed Valentine's Day through the lens of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as how the day affects various cultures in the United States and Brazil.
And in the latest installment of the “HFA Speaks” podcast, Humanities and Fine Arts intern Faith Harvey interviewed Yuri Fraccaroli, a graduate student in Feminist Studies from Brazil on the topic “An LGBTQ+ View of Valentine’s Day.”
Fraccaroli said that a safe space for the LGBTQ+ communities is one that engages in and encourages conversations like this one, about broadening our view of romantic love on Valentine’s Day.
“When we're talking about experiences, we need to think about spaces. Where do I feel safe, to show my love for someone… Where can I hold hands with my boyfriend, my girlfriend, to the person I love?” they said. “This is something important.”
Fraccaroli was born in São Paulo, Brazil. They have been working as a LGBTQ+ archivist hosting more than 4,000 items related to LGBTQ+ histories and memories.
In the podcast, Fraccaroli describes growing up with Brazil’s traditional holiday celebrating love, that takes place in June every year. “For me, at least, there was always this pressure of having a girlfriend and people asking me about a girlfriend,” they said.
Girls and boys grow up with messages that force them to perform a role, and it took until they were in their early 20s to feel comfortable in a non-conforming identity. Talking about these topics on a podcast and on Valentine’s Day makes these conversations visible to others, offering an opportunity for inclusion, Fraccaroli said.
“If you're feeling bad about not having a partner or not having a safe place, a safe place to spend your Valentine's Day… Take it easy, you’ll have a whole life. Look for a community, talk to people,” they said. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to feel love in a different space in a different way.”
Please click below to hear more about Valentine’s Day from a Queer perspective, and click above to watch UCSB students describe what Valentine’s Day means to them —who and what they believe it should celebrate.
“Especially here at UCSB, we are just such a super diverse group of people,” said one student, while sitting on the lawn outside the Library. “It just feels so welcoming in this community.”
This Valentine’s Day package was created by the Humanities and Fine Arts web and social media intern team. Text by Minyi Jiang. Multimedia by Lian Benasuly, Sophie Girard, Faith Harvey, and Maxwell Wilkens. Graphics and Layout by Katie Posey.