Survey Shows Romance Backlash as Men Opt for Footie Over Valentine's Day Nookie

February 14th causes widespread stress, insecurity and resentment says survey.

(PRWEB) February 2, 2006 -- Men are retaliating against the romantic pressures of Valentine’s Day as women develop February 14th neurosis, according to CupidBay.com (www.cupidbay.com).

A survey of the site’s 850,000 plus users showed that 39% of men felt pressurised into buying gifts and wining-and-dining their partner on Valentine’s Day as they believed they would get into trouble if they didn’t bother. At least 41% felt unduly pressured into having sex whether single or not, with 14% of men preferring to relinquish Valentine’s Day with their partner for a chilly night on the terraces supporting their football team. A further 9% of men admitted to having feigned sickness on Valentine’s Day in order to sneak off to support their team at a live match, with a more compromising 13% willing to settle at home in front of the telly to watch the game with their partner. Another 13% of men preferred to drag their other halves to the pub along with their mates in order to catch the match instead of spending time alone with their partner.

Valentine’s Day also seems to have spawned a new strain of neurosis: some 23% of women have sent themselves anonymous flowers, cards and gifts in the post just to make their partners jealous. Meanwhile 18% of people said February 14th made singletons feel like social lepers and a further 9% said that the occasion was marred by being an overtly commercial venture. A whopping 76% of people believe Valentine’s Day should be reinvented to focus on all kinds of love – not just romantic.

“Too much weight has been put on celebrating Valentine’s Day so that even people in loving relationships succumb to the pressures of spending money for fear of being dubbed ‘unloving’”, said Francis Deacon, relationship expert for CupidBay.com. “Surprise pampering on an ordinary day has, if anything, more value than some official date fixed exclusively for lovers. Reclaiming the spirit of Valentine’s Day has everything to do with performing small loving gestures; whether breakfast in bed, giving a foot massage or spending valuable time with your loved ones and says a lot more than buying a teddy bear brandishing a t-shirt saying: “I luv you”.

Notes to the Editor

About CupidBay

CupidBay.com (www.cupidbay.com) is an international friendship and dating website. It is one of the few sites which offers a completely free service. Users are able to create detailed profiles, takes advantage of the advanced matchmaking facility, send and receive unlimited messages and chat in real-time. It launched its first premium service in November 2004.

CupidBay.com now has over 850,000 active users from over 200 different countries. It receives over 10 million page impressions a month.

For further details, please contact: Francesca De Franco on 020 7070 0932 or Andrea San-Pedro on 020 7070954.

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