section_path: Impact on society
section_name: Impact on society
paragraph_text: Impact on society
  
  Jewellery has been used to denote status. In ancient Rome, only certain ranks could wear rings and later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewelry. This was also based on the rank of the citizens of that time.
  
  Cultural dictates have also played a significant role. For example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered effeminate in the 19th century and early 20th century. More recently, the display of body jewelry, such as piercings, has become a mark of acceptance or seen as a badge of courage within some groups but is completely rejected in others. Likewise, hip hop culture has popularised the slang term bling-bling, which refers to the ostentatious display of jewelry by men or women.
  
  Conversely, the jewelry industry in the early 20th century launched a campaign to popularise wedding rings for men, which caught on, as well as engagement rings for men, which did not, go so far as to create a false history and claim that the practice had medieval roots. By the mid-1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. featured a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.
  
  Some religions have specific rules or traditions surrounding jewelry (or even prohibiting it) and many religions have edicts against excessive display. Islam, for instance, considers the wearing of gold by men as Haraam. The majority of Islamic jewelry was in the form of bridal dowries, and traditionally was not handed down from generation to generation; instead, on a woman's death it was sold at the souk and recycled or sold to passers-by. Islamic jewelry from before the 19th century is thus exceedingly rare.