Diamond rings: a form of prostitution?
That’s the inflammatory premise of an article that claims the obsession with diamonds and big engagement rings thing is a big marketing scam invented by diamond merchants De Beers and which women and men have been suckered into.
Writer Ken Mondschein says:
“Of course, in De Beers’ defense, the pitch has to hit a receptive audience. Male engagement rings, popularised in the ’20s, never took off in the way that men’s wedding bands did. The marketing works because it ingeniously plays on men’s complexes about love, status and money— if you don’t buy her a diamond, it implies, you not only don’t love her, you can’t afford her.
The diamond ring is not only a symbol of commitment, but of status. What’s more, the script is one of near-prostitution where the woman passively (or passive-aggressively) hints that a gift of diamond jewelry would be welcome. (Or, as Ron White of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour translates it, “A diamond — that’ll shut her up!”) In other words, the diamond script is profoundly anti-feminist.”
I’ve always found the whole diamond ring thing distasteful. Girls who wave their rings around and somehow judge how much they’re loved by the size of their diamond…..Of course there are those who claim the size of the diamond is somehow connected to the size of the penis – I mean ego – of the man who bestows it.
And I’ve lost count at the number of times “let’s see the diamond ring!” is the first reaction to the announcement that someone is engaged. Shallow? Materialistic? Or just traditional?
Top Comments
Even way back when I was 22 and briefly engaged, I knew starting married life with the burden of debt for something I could potentially lose (so I would need really good insurance as well, another cost) just wasn't smart.
My Dad gave my then 18-year old Mom a just over one carat perfect round solitare, yellow gold engagement ring. When I was born, he gave her what some now call a "push present" (tgat made her gag lol) AKA right hand ring, another diamond, in the strangest setting. But I can't remember her not wearing it.... until I bought her a 3-stone, Bella Luce in 10 carat (carats?) yellow gold ring about a decade ago :) It makes me a little nuts that it looks so real, she tells everyone that it belonged to my maternal Grandmother (the only way we could afford a "real diamond" that size)
She has since had her 1966 perfect engagement ring diamond removed from the setting and replaced with a Bella Luce stone. The rock is in a safe somewhere and my parents were able to stop paying insurance for the diamond.
I never got to get married... but I love rings, and the "fake" stones are getting so much better all the time, it's just so fun. I'd still rather wear a CZ given in love than a diamond just to keep people from whispering. Life sans debt is amazing.
I amazed i feel so great every time i see a diamond ring it reminds me my fast in the time that i got married.
by: rhianne