Ladies: Here’s Why You Need to Stop Caring About Jewelry
Women need to stop giving a shit about material items — specifically jewelry. Valentine’s Day spending reached about $19 billion this year. Good news for flower shops and jewelry stores, bad news for consumers. Why? Because it’s stupid and meaningless.
So why should you stop caring about jewelry, ladies? Let’s start on a personal level: In reference to engagement rings: the entire tradition is based on sexist principles that involve a man claiming ownership of you. The guy agrees to marry you, your dad gives him a horse or something, you get a ring and some loser husband. Is there any real winner here? Maybe this part will make you feel slightly more empowered: after a man had given you a ring, if he tried to call off the engagement, he could be punished by law due to breach of promise. Women were generally not held to the same standard.
Women were also allowed to keep the ring due to their newly tarnished reputation. Does this make you feel empowered? It shouldn’t because it’s implied that you’re an object capable of losing value. “But that was so long ago, that doesn’t apply anymore! Our culture is different now!” First, breach of promise to marry is still applicable in about 50% of states. Second, but is it really?
Like I mentioned earlier, Valentine’s Day is a 19 billion dollar industry right now. So why? Because women demand it. Buying things is how we show we are successful in life and buying things is how we show our partners we care about them. See a problem here? Women put so much focus on holidays that revolve around gift giving because they are probably dating horrible people. They choose to date someone who is unsupportive, condescending, ignores their opinions, doesn’t listen to them, and possibly cheats on them. So when Valentine’s Day rolls around, he had better make up for it — in the form of worthless material goods such as jewelry, candy, and flowers. If that’s not the case and you’re a woman who is dating a good-guy and you still choose to give a shit about material holidays, then you need to get your priorities in order. For the cost of that ring he bought you, you could have taken an amazing vacation together or invested in your future.
Back to jewelry — STOP — it’s essentially worthless. It only has value because we as a society decide to place fake value in it. Jewelry prices are marked up in the store anywhere from 100% – 400% meaning the second you leave the store, the product loses significant value. So if you’re defending your jewelry purchase claiming it’s an investment, you’ll only be getting the wholesale value back — if you’re lucky. Hoarding gold jewelry for when the dollar collapses? I don’t know about you, but when I’m starving, cold, and dehydrated, I won’t be knocking down any doors looking for the gold.
Let’s not forget that in the 1930’s De Beer’s created a marketing campaign designed to make their product a part of every marriage while creating a monopoly. The product — diamonds: another essentially worthless product. A scam we are still buying into today at an average engagement ring cost of $3,200. Not to mention that the entire trade has a history of violence, unfair labor practices and human rights violations. So I hope you feel good about that rock on your finger.
So please ladies, just stop asking for this crap. If your boyfriend or husband treats you well, but you still put focus on these material gifts — I’m willing to bet that the value you place on things that don’t actually matter is probably killing your relationship in more ways than one. And if you’re dating an asshole: buying you meaningless or expensive gifts twice a year doesn’t make up for treating you like shit year-round. The only person who can change this situation is you: by leaving his ass. Whatever your situation, if you stop caring about things that don’t matter or have any real value and start putting effort into things that really do, I’m sure you’ll be a lot happier– something your boyfriend will also probably appreciate.
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Randi Nord lives in Pontiac, Michigan and is a journalist for the Pontiac Tribune.