Posts Written by LB
By LB Klein • 9 years ago

If You Liked It You Shoulda Put a Ring on It?

Since my partner and I decided to get married, I have gotten the constant question of, “where’s your engagement ring? Why don’t you have an engagement ring?” Followed by, “You NEED to have an engagement ring.”*

Full disclosure: I’ve turned down two proposals.  One was a high school boyfriend desperate to keep me from breaking up with him when I went to college.   I didn’t love him. One was a kindergartner who proposed with a ring pop. He told me I could still keep the ring, and I did. It was delicious.  That will be the only giant rock that I’ll be sporting.  This shocks close friends and perfect strangers, but I have never wanted an engagement ring.  If he likes it, he shouldn’t put a ring on it.

You see, the engagement ring is a combination of three things I greatly dislike: public displays, materialism, and slut-shaming.  Telling someone you want to be with them until you’re dead is a big freaking deal.  Not even the Zales and Shane Co. commercials can make me feel less wonderful about that as a concept. So, why are we doing this on scoreboards or in skywriting or via Twitter hashtags or with flash mobs?  I’m all for folks doing what makes sense for them, but I wish we showcased positive relationships as much as we advertised their associated materialism.