In a sense, yes. To be honest I didn't really want to spell it out because I like leaving something to the imagination for my readers.

Sometimes they're solid gold (ie, preferred equity) and one has to ask themselves whether or not it's worth their time, attention, security, and happiness. Often the handcuffs are gold-plated (ie, employee options), and give the illusion they're worth suffering for in a similar manner as the solid gold ones.

At the end of the day, they're both handcuffs and serve the same function as the steel ones.