Why didn't men wear wedding bands?

[FedoraFan112390]

Looking at a lot of old family photos from the 1930s/1940s it seems the general rule was for men not to wear their wedding band. I've looked at photos from both sides of my family and all of the men pictured were happily married men, in some cases religious men who dearly loved their wives--but no ring on their finger to be found.

I've noticed that it also might've been a generational thing. A photo of my maternal grandfather (born 1920) shows him without a wedding band, whereas a photo of my paternal grandfather (b. 1929) from roughly the same era shows him wearing a wedding band. It seems like men born before a certain point in the late '20s or early '30s didn't wear their wedding bands...Why is this?

 

[Frunobulax]

Speaking on behalf of my father, who rarely if at all wore his, it was a matter of practicality. If you were a laborer (and this is true still), you didn't wear it for safety reasons. Get that thing caught in something and crushed, it can take your finger off. My father was a laborer at NCR, and never wore his. When he retired, he started wearing it.

To this day, construction workers, electricians, and others who physically labor on the job don't wear theirs.

 

[Hat Dandy]

As stated by Frunobulax, it was a safety issue. Many of my forbearers did heavy manual labor and, consequently, eschewed wearing their wedding ring.

 

[Frunobulax]

However, if you look closely at those old photographs, you may see the chain attached to the ankle. :ballchain:

 

[casechopper]

My Grandfather didn't wear a ring. He'd been a medic in WW2 and then worked at a factory. Due to his experience he was in charge of first aid and running guys to the hospital when there were accidents. Rings getting caught in machinery or your finger getting hit and then swelling (with the ring cutting off circulation) were a good reason for factory workers to not wear them.

 

[Edward]

I remember one of my male grandparents wearing one; I don't think the other did. I suspect in part it might also have been a marketing invention, like diamond engagement rings (and nevermind the vile trade behind it), or stag/hen parties.

 

[jamespowers]

My grandfather had an experience that explains why for sure. He was working on a car and had inadvertently placed his hand on top of the battery----the hot post hitting his ring. In minutes the ring was just about glowing. He ran and placed his hand in a bucket of cold water. He never wore it---outside of special occassions---again.

 

[kaiser]

Speaking on behalf of my father, who rarely if at all wore his, it was a matter of practicality. If you were a laborer (and this is true still), you didn't wear it for safety reasons. Get that thing caught in something and crushed, it can take your finger off. My father was a laborer at NCR, and never wore his. When he retired, he started wearing it.

To this day, construction workers, electricians, and others who physically labor on the job don't wear theirs.

Same with my Dad, worked heavy construction, the ring was a risk for him at work, did wear it though on vacation, and after he retired.

 

[Cobden]

In the UK, men didn't wear wedding rings really until the 1940s, and the Church of England didn't have marriage vows that allowed for two rings to be exchanged until, I believe, the 80s (maybe more recently). It just wasn't a "thing".

 

[Edward]

I do tend to the view that it had more to do with cultural fa tors thsn manual labour. Not to say that the latter wasn't an isdue, but there were a fair number of men back when who didn't do manual labour, so I'd have been surprised if that was the only reason.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I do tend to the view that it had more to do with cultural fa tors thsn manual labour. Not to say that the latter wasn't an isdue, but there were a fair number of men back when who didn't do manual labour, so I'd have been surprised if that was the only reason.

One theory is that men simply didn't wear wedding rings prior to WWI. It was wartime which inspired men to start wearing rings to remind them of their wives and families back home. By the 1950s, it began to be part of the whole wedding tradition.

 

[Corky]

I told my wife "Wearing a wedding ring cuts off my circulation."

She replied "That's the whole idea."

 

[Stanley Doble]

The jewellery industry hadn't gotten around to pushing them yet.

 

[jamespowers]

I told my wife "Wearing a wedding ring cuts off my circulation."

She replied "That's the whole idea."

Where does this cut of the circulation?