Why Do Men Still Insist On Proposing In Public?

- Dayna Evans

They’d been dating for five years and Kat assumed they’d eventually get married, but it wasn’t exactly on her mind as she stood near the stage watching the indie band They Might Be Giants. Then, three songs in, the lead singer made an announcement: “This next song goes out to Nick—he has a very important question for Kat.” Kat found this strange. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, those are our names. What a weird coincidence!’” But when she turned to say this to Nick, he was on one knee, prying open a ring box. The crowd parted instantly, and Kat saw one girl frantically elbow her friend to alert her to the spectacle unfolding. Then Kat realized with horror that she and Nick were the spectacle. “Get up. Get up,” she pleaded with him then. (“I was actually very embarrassed,” she says now. “I don’t love public attention.”) Compounding things, “I was hungover, I wasn’t dressed cute, I probably didn’t even shower,” she adds. After hurriedly accepting Nick’s proposal, “we had to watch the whole concert,” recalls Kat, “and I kind of wanted to just leave.”

Lucky for Kat, her surprise engagement wasn’t seen by 2.6 million people, which is the number that have so far clicked on the video of nurse Kaitlyn Curran being accosted by her boyfriend and a ring at mile 16 of the 2018 New York City marathon. (Curran can be seen hugging him and accepting the ring while declining to remove her headphones; dude had already added nearly a minute to her time, after all.) Or by the global TV audience that watched Chinese diver He Zi’s boyfriend awkwardly ambush her on the podium at the 2016 Rio Olympics while she was busy winning a silver medal. (Go ahead, bro, you have the hardware she really wants.)