Breakfast at Tiffany’s is Now Serving Steak & Eggs

It’s telling that the story still goes dogs: man’s best friend, diamonds: girl’s. Don’t roll your eyes, I know the parallel is fraught. It’s the same story that decides what color your room is as an infant and whether you get Power Rangers or Pretty, Pretty Princess at your awesome gender-specific birthday party. The point is, we now live in a world where Harry has already met Sally and it turns out, male-female friendship, shared interests, equality — it’s all possible. So maybe diamonds can be a man’s best friend.

The jewelry industry has always been a bit primeval. It’s an industry dedicated to the seduction of women through strategic marketing to men. If a man loves you, he’ll give you a diamond. If he gives you a diamond, you should probably sleep with him. It’s the civilized answer to hitting a female over the head with a club and dragging her into a cave. And while getting a diamond is preferable to a concussion, the idea is the same: relationships are a man’s decision.

So in 2018, it’s time to let the woman do some of the heavy lifting, some of the clubbing and dragging.

Or we can put away our weapons and simply ask for mutual commitment.

The gesture of a woman giving a man an engagement ring may seem small and unremarkable. But it’s a politically-charged action of empowerment, a means of returning agency to a woman and reminding a man that he too has a support system now. We live in a world where men not only can but shouldexpect equal contribution to a relationship. We also live in a world where men can marry other men. They should be welcomed into the marriage tradition with a choice to display their love and commitment through the same age-old physical totems we all use. And we can’t ask them to wear the dainty bling we give to women. First, they are men and deserve fashion tailored to their own tastes. Second, they just won’t fit. Aesthetic argument: check. Utilitarian argument: double check.

Whether the marriage is between a man and a woman or two men, the onus of the relationship — money, decision-making and all — should fall squarely on four shoulders.

It’s the 21st century. Women can “lean in” and the house they live in? They bought it. So a redefinition of marriage and relationships is just a necessary evolution to accommodate not a different kind of woman, but the only kind of woman. Not a different kind of relationship, but the only kind of relationship. And while traditional gender roles will always be the prerogative of some, it will be one lifestyle choice among many.

BERLINGER RINGS is the first company creating engagement, wedding, and fashion rings for men and women. We’re changing the narrative in luxury fashion to promote equality — one ring at a time.