Are engagement rings anti-feminist? This woman thinks so
For many fiancées or wives, engagement rings are their pride and joy, but one woman believes the jewellery is anti-feminist.
Matilde Suescún, a media strategist and writes for BBC 100 Women, says engagement rings prevents women from becoming independent.
Twice-divorced and currently living with her partner, Matilde – who has a daughter from a previous marriage – says she married her two ex-husbands after making a mutual decision rather than a proposal.
She writes: “I have been married twice in the past, and may marry again, but I have never had or wanted an engagement ring.
“I believe engagement rings are anti-feminist. They symbolise an attitude which is in complete antithesis to the idea of an independent woman – signifying that the woman with the ring belongs to another person.”
She continues: “The whole ritual of proposing marriage bothers me. The pantomime of a man kneeling down and asking for a woman’s hand seems absurd to me.
“It puts her in a passive role, and asking her in a very public way – such as live on stage or in front of cameras – makes her even more vulnerable. It really is an eccentric act.”
Matilde insists women should seek happiness for themselves, instead.
She says: “I am concerned that society and the media seems to educate girls to dream, from when they are young, about the man who, to quote Beyonce, will ‘Put a ring on it’. And those girls then grow up with this idea that married life will then solve all their problems.
“Instead of just aspiring to marriage and a ring, I think girls should aspire to be independent, to study and develop, to seek happiness for themselves.”
Of course, not everyone chooses a traditional marriage path, including one woman who hit headlines last year when she married herself.
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