You may have seen them here and there— tiny rings with a single stone or a plain band on the pinkies of women. No, it doesn’t mean she’s a crime boss, as we see in pop culture.

Single women and happily attached women are finding them useful for making promises, but not the type of promise a mate would make through the symbol of a ring. Instead, the pinky promise – the sacred, binding commitment that one dare not break – is finding a new form of expression. Long used by children to seal secrets and by adults to seal deals, this time-old tradition has taken a fashionable turn. Women are wearing pinky rings to signify a pledge of self-love.