"I am repelled by wholesomeness."
- George Carlin, 'Brain Droppings' (New York: Hyperion, 1997. Print.)
"Steaks and orgasms: how empty life would be without them."
- The Residents, 'Insincere' (2006)
I love mathematics, so I'd love to talk about "Pi Day" (3/14). However, there are already plenty of sites for that. So instead, I'd like to talk about another holiday that also falls on 3/14, namely because it's one month after Valentine's Day. That day is known as "Steak and Blow Job Day". Here's a site claiming to be the "official" one for it. Hopefully the site doesn't crash like it tends to do every year on this day: http://www.steakandbj.org
So where does this idea come from, anyway? Well as I understand it, some radio station years ago decided to promote it as a low-brow humorous reaction to Valentine's Day. More specifically, it's a reaction to the way that Valentine's Day is largely celebrated: a sickeningly-wholesome, commercial, guilt-inducing Hallmark card holiday, centered around pleasing female partners with stereotypically "woman" stuff: flowers, chocolates, overpriced dinners, poetry, and so on. So the idea is that since these sorts of women have hijacked the holiday, then a month later there should be a day to equally celebrate the equally stereotypical man stuff. Personally, I think it's brilliant.
Now every year that I mention this, there are always people who say "But, but, but, it's not just for women!" or "But I buy my husband stuff too for Valentine's Day!" or "Well I'm not one of those shallow women, and in fact I abhor that sort of approach to Valentine's Day as much as you do." That's great! But you're all missing the point. The fact remains that the Valentine's Day phenomenon I described is a very real thing, regardless of whether you yourself participate. So you'd have to be incredibly myopic to not understand why a reactionary, satirical holiday like S&BJ day would come about in the first place.
Likewise, I've seen some men reject the idea by saying "Hey, if you have a woman who loves you and/or have a healthy relationship, then EVERY day is S&BJ day!", or simply "Every day should *BE *S&BJ Day!" Again, these people are missing the point. In fact, let's just take it back to the original premise: you could equally argue that if you have a good relationship in the first place, then you don't need a special day like Valentine's Day for love, since every day should be Valentine's Day. But in that case, then you reject the original B.S. I mentioned which the industry attaches to Valentine's Day, as it doesn't apply to you (again: that's great!), and thus you're really on the side of the people supporting S&BJ Day.
So for the men in relationships, and women who don't try to turn Valentine's Day into a second birthday party for themselves: Happy S&BJ Day!
Bill M.
3/14/16
