Yahoo Lifestyle 
Man-gagement rings are here to stay
Ed Sheeran has been wearing a ring on that finger, but it’s not what you think it is. It’s simply a ‘man-gagement’ ring.
People noticed the wedding band-style accessory about two weeks ago, and he has since addressed it.
“I never saw why men didn’t wear engagement rings,” Sheeran, 27, told British talk show Lorraine.
“Cherry made it for me herself out of silver clay,” he said of his new ring, made by fiancee, Cherry Seaborn. “I really like it.”
“We didn’t get secretly married, no,” he clarified on The Kyle and Jackie O Show this week.
“It also means that nobody will know when we have got married.”
That’s not the only reason he - and other men - are wearing engagement rings nowadays. The trend has taken off in the last few years.
According to a survey by XO Group Inc, five percent of engaged men are wearing man-gagement rings. And that was a few years ago; the number has probably increased since then, especially as influential people like Sheeran join in on the trend.
“There’s a levelling of the playing field,” Jane Greer, New York-based marriage and sex therapist tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
“Women are exercising more choice and control in their lives. They don’t have to wait for the man to propose and stay stuck in this limbo, not knowing if or when it’s going to happen.
“They are taking initiative and putting the option on the table,” she adds.
This doesn’t mean men don’t want to propose.
“Men are not taking a back seat or getting lazy, but they move at a different timing than women sometimes,” Greer says.
Mutual ring-wearing is most popular among couples ‘who are looking for more sharing and equity between them’, according to Greer.
“They are not bound by conformity or tradition. They are able to adapt norms to their needs rather than feeling limited by the standard protocol.”
With gender equality being a hot-button issue right now, it’s the perfect time to introduce man-gagement rings, but the concept is actually not new.
In 1926, jewellers tried to popularise pre-wedding rings for men, according to the Atlantic. However, campaigns were unable to overcome the ‘ingrained femininity’ of the symbol.
Amy Elliott, author of the All That Glitters blog and jewellery expert for the Bridal Council, thinks these rings might become more popular now, thanks to Sheeran.
“Celebrity engagements have an effect on demand. But retailers have been designing men’s styles with diamonds and gemstones for decades, blurring the lines between a traditional wedding band and an accessory that makes more of a fashion statement,” she points out.
“If more guys start getting engagement rings from their fiancées, I suspect that it will be more a of reciprocal thing — you gave me this gorgeous ring, so here’s one for you,” Elliot explains.
“The idea that the bride’s ring is a really, really big deal is not going to change anytime soon.”
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