Looking for inspiration this Valentine's Day? Jennifer Zamparelli spoke with the show's resident sex therapist, Rachel Cooke, about getting ready for the day of celebrating romance and love.
"Some people trace Valentine's Day origin to the Christian replacement of a pagan fertility ritual, which has actually been dated back to the 6th century BC. It was called the Festival of Lupercalia, and Roman priests would sacrifice goats and dogs and use their blood soaked hides to slap women on the streets as a fertility blessing."
According to legend, she says, women would put their names in an urn to be selected to be paired with a man for a year. "It was a kind of romantic sex lottery."
The festival was eventually replaced by Valentine's Day in the 5th century by the Pope, and it only became a romantic event sometime in the 14th century.
Today the holiday, of course, is all about "devotion to one monogamous partner" often manifesting as a "rushed, cramped, cringe-worthy meal out, chocolates, roses and a bottle of pino griege, whatever it is".
It's more about "consumerism, heteronormativity and these sexist gender roles", Cooke says. "It also gives partners who slack off the rest of the year the opportunity to do something for one day of the year, and then slack off again the other 364 days."
She also said that there's a spike in break-ups after Valentine's Day, with one of the two main spikes of the year coming immediately after the holiday. "Part of that is to do with the massive amount of disappointment people have."
She says that plenty of money is still being spent on the event, with some spending more than €100 on each other. But if you want to keep it low-cost, high-reward, Cooke says you can't go wrong with a little bit of alone time.
"Having sex is pretty much the only Valentine's Day activity bar a reservation, a taxi. It's a good way to keep it cheap."
To hear all of her tips for a steamy Valentine's Day, listen to the full interview above.
