There Are Simply Better Options
Just as Powers managed to celebrate her love for herself through yoga, there are simply more meaningful and less expensive ways Black women can celebrate themselves without spending thousands of dollars on a ceremony. Teeman explained that after taking a close look at the self-marriages, there actually isn’t anything empowering about them in and of themselves.
“There is nothing that empowering in these ceremonies, no grand feminist statement, no grand personal statement— just a rather pathetic play-acting of symbolism, and a sad acknowledgment toward the much more traditional marriage ceremony that may never take place in these women’s lives,” he wrote. Teeman then said what many social media users said about dishing out thousands on a solo wedding ceremony — that money can be used elsewhere for other experiences that could prove to be more empowering, uplifting and beneficial than a wedding to oneself. “Anyone thinking of marrying themselves would be better advised to take a trip, or go to a restaurant, or a fantastic walk, or spend time with friends, see some art, go to a movie — stake your claim, show your single pride, but as a statement of itself and of yourself.”
