Thank you. I literally told my husband I didn't even want a diamond, I just want something that communicates the "I'm married" social signal to minimise annoyances from men, fits my aesthetic tastes, and is soft enough that there's low risk of a degloving accident without being so soft that I can't do any work with my hands. I'm not immune to the psychology and marketing - I'd still feel weird if he had wanted to get me like, costume jewellery for a wedding ring, but I'm perfectly happy with moissanite.
Is anything metal soft enough to avoid degloving? Skin's pretty soft, and I too am quite concerned about such injuries.
Coincidentally, I bought a bunch of moissanite on aliexpress just yesterday. I went looking for artificial diamonds, but they were still more expensive than the frivolity-money I planned on blowing. (and were hard to find in that SEO hellscape) Plus clear silicon-carbide has better optical properties than diamond anyway, so moissanite looks nicer.
Gold, basically, but if it's not high enough carat the risk goes up a lot. At the same time, too high carat gold is going to get damaged very easily. It's a balancing act, you can only lower the risk.
I use 18k, with the normal ring design that has a thinner side towards the palm, counting on that thin part of the ring to break before a full degloving. I did ask about whether it was possible to get a 14k ring that came in two halves with 22k linkages between the halves (the idea being that it would split very easily in an emergency but most of the ring would be scratch resistant), but after looking at me like I had two heads one jeweller said it wasn't possible and the other jeweller quoted me some obscene price which, fair enough. Regardless, still remove the ring before you work with any tools that are a risk though, like a belt sander etc. If you use a workshop regularly, I would just build a designated container at a convenient height for your wedding ring, so you always know where it will be if it's not on your hand.
This describes next to no women I've ever known. If a man wants to pass off his genes, then waiting for a "smart" woman is a gamble. Even if he finds one, the parents in law will cast shame for him not getting her a real diamond. That's how deep the marketing goes.