Modern societies house humans in massive metropolises where they potentially come into contact with hundreds of strangers every day. People also have much greater freedom of movement than ever before, bringing them face to face with even more people who don’t know anything about them. Under these circumstances, it may be desirable to subtly advertise one’s relationship status, to deter would-be suitors from initiating offers, which can become tiresome.
Married couples have wedding rings and engaged couples have engagement rings, but what about couples who are dating exclusively but haven’t a decided on lifetime commitment? For these people, there are promise rings, signifying a promise to eventually get engaged to their partner. These promise rings are often worn on the left ring finger.
There is also another kind of “promise ring”, sometimes called a “purity ring”, and these symbolize a vow to abstain from sexual relations until one’s wedding. Popularized by fundamentalist Christian groups in the 1990’s, they can be worn regardless of whether one has a romantic partner or not.
