There’s a discussion in another thread about women not taking their husband’s name, which I firmly believe is every woman’s right. They are their own person and taking their husband’s name could be construed as being the property of their husband.
Similarly, the custom of wearing wedding rings could also convey ownership or property. Do you married men, or males that may consider marriage in the future, ever consider not wearing your wedding band? I have friends and co-workers that sometime conduct this practice, especially when traveling for business out of town. They see the wedding band as a symbol holding back their true selves as independent people by the bands of matrimony place there by their wives.
So what say you, doper males. Do you shed the band tyranny and chattel sometimes?
I frequently go without my wedding ring as jewelry isn’t allowed at my workplace.
Actually, I’m not even at work now and I’m not wearing it; it’s become such a habit to leave it at home that I forget to put it on and when I do, I’m not used to it anymore.
If a guy sees himself as an independent person, why did he get married? I thought the whole point of marriage was to tie yourselves together, so that you are not two completely independent people.
Pretty much the only time I remove my ring is when it may damage property (e.g. when washing my car by hand) or presents a risk of injury to myself (e.g. when doing construction work or playing with power tools).
The only message my ring conveys is that I am married.
I don’t have a problem with the symbolism of a ring, however I just don’t like wearing rings. When I do get married I’ll strongly consider getting mine tattooed.
One, is the OP actually a satiric attack on women who keep their names? I kept my name, but there was nothing political about it. I just like it and identify with it. People call me by my last name. It would have been weird.
My father has never worn a wedding band–I’ve never asked why, but I assume he just doesn’t like jewelry–he doesn’t wear a watch, either. I was a bit weirded out when my husband said he wanted one because my dad’s lack of a ring means that in my mind wedding rings are feminine. But he has one and mostly wears it. If he stopped, I wouldn’t mind (ok, if he stopped wearing it and started hanging out in bars, then I would want to have a Long Boring Talk About Our Relationship).
I never take mine off. It’s not “holding back my true self.” I am married. My true self is a married man. Why would I want to pretend otherwise? The ring is an easy way to signal to the ladies that I’m not interested in a date.
If I worked often with machinery that could snag my ring and eat my hand, I’d take it off but put it back on before going out in public.
ETA:
So when your friends travel, they don’t want to admit that they are married? Seems to me that maybe they should not be married or should not be travelling without their wife. They’re just asking for trouble.
My father doesn’t wear a wedding ring. My mom wears hers on a chain around her neck 90% of the time, but will put it on her finger as part of her whole jewelry ensemble.
I didn’t realize my Dad didn’t wear one until I was 19 or so. They’re obviously in the minority on this. I asked them about it, and mom said “Well, obviously your dad can’t wear it while he’s working, which is most of his waking hours.” So he has one, somewhere, but never wears it. It’s pretty irrelevant - he’s the kind of guy who brings up my mom in the first five minutes of meeting someone.
The OP’s friends purposely taking off when they’re out of town means they’re trying to get some female attention at the hotel bar. Disgusting.
I don’t always wear mine, but there’s no “freedom from tyranny” or any other bullshit reason involved. I never wore jewelry in my life before I got married, and though I’ve gotten more used to it, I still don’t feel completely comfortable wearing a ring all the time. It lives in a little dish on the bathroom vanity (where my wife also keeps hers, BTW). Most mornings I slip it on before leaving the house; some mornings I don’t think to, but there’s really no rhyme or reason.
I never sleep with it on, which is why I rarely take it traveling, for fear of losing it.
These guys, though, just sound like they want to get laid when they go out of town!
This is also my position. I also take it off when I’m doing a sterile procedure. Ms. Attack, curiously, doesn’t wear hers at all - she has knobby fingers, so it hurts going over the knuckle, then rattles around on the finger.
Yeah, if I ran into a guy who never took his wedding ring with him during business trips, I’d suspect he was up to something, even if that’s just wanting a little extra attention from women.
Before I got married, the only ring I wore with any regularity was my high school class ring, and that was only for a year or so. But I’ve worn my wedding ring basically non-stop since the day I got married, over two years ago. It’s not a symbol of ownership – it’s a symbol of unending love and loyalty, as well as a “I’m married!” signal to other women.
I do fiddle with it quite a bit, but that’s nothing new – I’m always picking at my fingernails and such. My fingers like to be busy.
Lost my first one within 3 days of getting married, it was big and chunky and I had to keep taking it off and on for typing etc. Generally I hate rings, I have one thats smaller now, but really only wear it for special occasions, as I lost another after the first one. Freudians will no doubt make hay over that one.
I see it less of a ‘holding’ me back thing sometimes as irritating how some people seem to want to classify everyone and decide appropriate topics based on your pigeon hole. Eg you’re married so you’ll be dying to talk about children. Given it took us 9 years trying before we were successful, no, I really wasnt.
While I was married I didn’t wear it about half the time. I tend to get contact dermatitis on my hands from time to time. If I scratch at it long enough my fingers swell up a bit and it made my rind uncomfortable. I’d take the ring off until it went down (about a week) and usually forget to put it back on for another week or two after that.
My father almost never wears his only because he works with his hands so much he ends up ruining iy. It was easier not to wear it then to be paying for the repairs.
