between valentine’s & women’s day

Valentine’s Day is behind us. International Women’s Day – celebrated in the formerly Communist ruled countries of Eastern Europe – just ahead of us: 8 March. Time to reflect on the sparkle of pebble stones, commonly referred to as ‘diamonds’. Why? The marketing campaign surrounding them is the picture-perfect-finish to utilizing gender roles.

The slogan “Diamond’s are a girls best friend” are the epitome of women being passive recipients of the value that the patriarchal system sees fit and taking care of these goods – be they gems or children – for ever after. As has been demonstrated by Edward Jay Epstein the goal is that the supply of diamonds is to be solely on the diamond “producers”; women are thus to hold onto their jewelry and not bring it back into the market. The price is set solely by the “producers.” 

Obviously, there are numerous human rights and exploitation issues involved in the selection of mines – endangering indigenous tribes, the mining process and the cutting of diamonds. To top it off, there are also press freedom concerns related to the books (e.g. Janine Roberts, Tom Zoellner) that have been published about the diamond industry, which tend to not be written up in media dependent on advertising by diamond dealers.