Image by Shoshana via Flickr
Throughout the years there have been a number of camps on either side of the debate on whether or not a diamond is a necessary expression of love, or if a fancy bauble given to a lady to commemorate their engagement is a stamp of ownership.
From where I’m standing, both arguments are nonsense. And yet, in all of my research I have never seen a lady or a man ponder as to why a man’s wedding band doesn’t have any fancy gemstones – in fact most don’t have a fancy anything; a man’s wedding band is often nondescript kind of boring to look at. Wouldn’t you agree?
Before we look at why the typical men’s wedding band has no gemstone or more specifically, a diamond in it – first let us try to understand why diamonds are popular to begin with.
Great Marketing
We all believe our own thoughts to be unique and free of any outside influence whether it is from marketing or a friend’s opinion. We generally think that the idea of brainwash is for people who wear tinfoil hats and that surely “I am not affected by clever marketing and the power of suggestion”.
And yet the mainstay of the diamond nestled on an engagement ring is a relatively new convention and under 100 years old. In fact, the concept is new and relatively unsubscribed to in much of the world as the focus of any diamond marketing campaign has been exclusively focused in North America.
I will spare you all of the useless diamond trivia, and get to the point; if it wasn’t for marketing voodoo, diamonds would not carry status which they do. Marketing voodoo came before silly claims and societal pressure, too.
Sexism and ownership
Depending on who you ask, it is a toss-up whether women really like diamonds or women like diamonds due to societal pressures. I’ve never seen a man asked to flash around his wedding band after getting married and a large portion of the fairer sex would have many believe that asking a lady to don a fancy bauble is nothing more than a bag and tag style signature of ownership.
What do you think?
In contrast, there is another silly argument hidden just below the surface; a man should not need a diamond wedding band because a wedding day is all about the bride.
In my personal opinion as a man, I do feel that a wedding day is all about the bride when it comes to the pedestal experience. But of course the day is symbolic for both parties; a day to be remembered and cherished by both bride and groom to be.
Is it that men do not like diamonds, or is it societal pressure that makes the average man feign away from diamond rings? Why don’t brides broach the issue more fervently?
I don’t have all the answers to these questions, if anything I’m only asking them to shed light on the complexity of the subject.
In reality, just before typing this article I did a little bit of research looking for engagement rings for sale online. I did find that there are many engagement rings and wedding bands for men which include diamonds. In some cases, perhaps almost as proportionately silly as anything else in this debate – some of these diamond wedding band designers felt the need to offset shimmery, glittery diamonds with “manly” Army camo engraved into the band itself.
Whatever your taste, this debate will probably rage on for generations – and it doesn’t matter. All this talk is pretty silly when a wedding is such a personal expression of a relationship. Let us enjoy ourselves since there’s going to be a celebration.
