Many of us here are in relationships or perhaps have been very close to becoming married. I find myself in this position today, weathering the storm that is societal standards. One such standard that is particularly interesting to me is that of the diamond engagement ring.

Today my mother begged me, again, to marry my gf for a plethora of reasons: "God will bless you, its time for you to be a man, ect.". My mom isnt a bad lady, but, like most women I have encountered, she (probably unknowingly) holds the belief that women are the beginning and end of the male's self concept but I digress. I humored her, to shut her up, and asked her: "how much do you think a good ring costs?" Her answer? 15 MOTHERFUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS. Lmao. For a damn rock. I stayed cool. I asked "....why?". She told me that it "represents your love for her so it has to be nice" and that "if it's not nice women will talk about her like a dog".

I've thought about this conversation for a little while now, and come to the conclusion that the purpose of this ring isn't to symbolize my love for my gf...the purpose of the ring is the same as the purpose of every other object in a woman's life: security. I've toyed with this idea for a while now but this situation rather cements it for me: Women primarily (and perhaps only) appreciate/value things and people on the basis of the security they provide them. That ring costs $15,000 because that's the level of security it offers the woman who will wear it; Fashion is security. A Louis Vuitton purse doesnt cost so much because it is actually physically better/more useful than the other bags, it costs so much because the logo on the bag provides the wearer of it a high degree of exemption from scrutiny/shame. The engagement ring bullshit is no different.

I can't help but ask myself why it has to be this way. Why in the fuck do women have/feel the need to use men to validate their petty, borderline evil competition for exaltation? Everywhere I look I see men slaving away their prime years to impress women, only to spend the rest of them trying to keep them "happy"...and the only thing that makes most women happy is feeling superior to other women. So, in essence, society is built to profit off of men trying to impress women through symbols of security, not security from physical evil, but safety from the thoughts of other women who seemingly can't help but desire to feel superior to one another. Why else would women shit on each other because of the size of a fucking rock? Smh. $15,000 to prevent women talking shit about you lmao.