My best friend and I have known each other, and been best friends, since first grade.
Granted, I knew it was coming.
And, for that matter, why don’t women propose?
Why has it always been done this way?
What’s the history behind men as the ones giving the proposal and women as the ones receiving it?
Or, to quoteThe Princess Bride, “Mawwage.
That bwessed event, that dweem wivin a dweem!”
“Marriage spoke to the needs of the larger group.
In other cases, women were married off as a means of settling or paying a debt.
The answer was no.
(And, hence, the Amy Adams movie.)
However, it brought with it an ugly practice Leap Year proposals wererelentlessly ridiculed and mocked.
(Think men hiding in trees while women sporting elongated, witch-like noses go marauding with lassos.
Men as the provider (or, “what a guy, that Gaston!")
In their role as a provider, the man clearly held the reins when it came to proposing.
So, the trope goes, she drops hints, nags, and tries to convince him to propose.
A man being solely responsible for proposing is an unnecessary and antiquated norm.”
Proposals: What to do?
So, then, what’s a woman to do when she knows she’s ready to get married?
The best thing you’re free to do is to talk about it.
can help ensure that you’re going into this on equal footing.
Ultimately, though, women have the power to change this millennia-old narrative.
For some women like my bestie, that’ll involve taking the reins on marriage proposals.
