What Is the Difference Between a Promise Ring and a Purity Ring?
Here at Purity Rings Catalog, our team of jewelry experts sometimes receives questions from shoppers about purity rings in general, and one of the questions that we receive most often is if a promise ring is the same thing as a purity ring. Because this question is so common, we wanted to take the time to explain the answer.
The Meaning of a Purity Ring
A purity ring has one basic meaning: that the wearer intends to not have sex until she is married. Purity rings may be purchased by a girl for herself, by her parents or by her significant other and given as a gift. Often times, couples that pledge to be abstinent exchange purity rings with one another as a visual reminder of their vow to wait, but a girl does not need to be in a relationship to wear a purity ring.
The Many Meanings of a Promise Ring
As explained by the online magazine Love Panky, a promise ring is a ring presented from one significant other to the other and can represent any type of commitment or vow. Some of the common meanings of promise rings include:
- A promise that a young couple will one day become engaged when they are old enough
- A sign that one partner will wait for the other while they are away to attend school, serve in the military or complete some other task
- A vow that one partner will stop a certain behavior that is negatively affecting the relationship
- A mutual decision to not have sex until married and not to pressure one another to be sexually intimate
The final meaning of a promise ring is nearly identical to that of a purity ring, except that the ring is always given by a boyfriend to a girlfriend or vice versa. Because there are so many possible meanings for promise rings, you can’t always assume that someone who is wearing one has decided to abstain from sex until marriage in the same way that you can when a person is wearing a purity ring.
In terms of actual jewelry, many promise rings make beautiful purity rings, but not all purity rings are suitable for use as promise rings depending on the intentions of the person giving the ring. For example, a style like A True Love Waits ring would not be appropriate for a non-abstinent couple who was using the promise ring as a pre-engagement ring. Any of the rings on our site, however, are lovely choices for purity rings for girls.