Sugar dating, also called sugaring,[1] is a quasiromantic or pseudoromantic relationship wherein a financially successful person dates a less financially successful person. Typically, the financially successful person is older and wealthy, while the other person is typically younger, attractive, and interested in improving their quality of life.[2] Sugaring can be classified as a compensatory relationship whereby the recipient obtains gifts such as jewelry, luxury goods, leisure outings, vacations, fine dining, financial support, or mentorship, meanwhile offering social benefits such as companionship, affection, dating or intimacy.[3][4][5]
The gift recipient is called a sugar baby, and male sugar babies are referred to as gigolos. The providing partner is called a sugar daddy or sugar mommy.[6] Sugar dating is especially popular in the online dating community due to the easy access to specific niches and desires.[7]
Prevalence
editThe phenomenon of powerful men using their money to attract women is old. At the end of the 19th century in the United States, in a phenomenon known as treating, women with low-paying jobs relied upon men to provide them with money in exchange for being an escort.[8]
With the rising costs in tuition, cuts to scholarships and bursaries, and the increasing pressures of student debt, sugar dating has become prevalent among students.[9] Research suggests that there is a growing phenomenon of female university students working in the sex industry to pay for their post-secondary education.[10] Due to the nature and stigmatization of sex work in the marginalized and hidden population, there is limited information on the percentage of students participating in these types of relationships.[11] Those that decide to participate in sugar often use various websites to come in contact with these people. Membership on one site in 2016 was US$70 per month for sugar daddies or mommies, but free for sugar babies.[12]
Attitudes towards sugar relationships are shaped by economic conditions, societal norms, psychological traits, and cultural values. Research has found openness to these arrangements is related to traditional gender roles, sociosexual orientation, parasite-stress theory, economic inequality, individualism, and personality traits like the Dark Triad.[13]
Legality and comparison to sex work
editThere is debate about whether this practice can be considered sex work; i.e., purchase of intimate attention, sexual or otherwise.[14] In an article from Deutsche Welle, the CEO of SeekingArrangement denied that the site played host to prostitutes and their customers, saying that "escorts and their clients are never welcome on our sites".[15]
In Malaysia, sugar dating is illegal,[16] to the point where the CEO of Malaysian sugar dating company Sugarbook was arrested[17] and their website blocked by Malaysian Internet service providers.[18]
Sugaring has been called the modern-day counterpart of the courtesan,[19][20] "a prostitute, especially one with wealthy or upper-class clients."
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Pardiwalla, Anahita (20 April 2016). "Sugaring: A New Kind of Irresistible". Huffington Post.
- ^ Recio, Rocío Palomeque (January 2022). "Blurred lines: Technologies of heterosexual coercion in "sugar dating"". Feminism & Psychology. 32 (1): 44–61. doi:10.1177/09593535211030749. ISSN 0959-3535.
- ^ Upadhyay, Srushti (24 July 2021). "Sugaring: Understanding the World of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies". The Journal of Sex Research. 58 (6): 775–784. doi:10.1080/00224499.2020.1867700. ISSN 0022-4499.
- ^ Nelson, Rochelle (6 November 2014). "'Sugar Baby' Reveals Why Married Men Cheat with Her for Thousands of Dollars". Huffington Post.
- ^ Motyl, J (2013). "Trading sex for college tuition: How sugar daddy "dating" sites may be sugarcoating prostitution". Penn State Law Review. 117 (3): 927–957.
- ^ "Meaning of sugar daddy in English". Cambridge Dictionary. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
- ^ "Sugardaddie.com Dating Blog Meeting Online: The Past, Present and Future of Dating | Sugardaddie.com". 13 April 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
- ^ Krantz, Rachel (24 July 2018). "Professional 'sugar babies' share what it's really like to get paid to hang out with rich guys". Business Insider. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ Ross, Terrance F. (15 January 2015). "Where the Sugar Babies Are". The Atlantic. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ Cordero, Brittany (2015). "Sugar Culture and SeekingArrangement.com Participants: What it Means to Negotiate Power and Agency in Sugar Dating". California State University.
- ^ Daly, Sarah (2017). "Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies: An Exploration of Sugar Dating on Canadian Campuses". Carleton University: 9–15.
- ^ Hernandez, Elizabeth (13 May 2016). "Colorado 'Sugar Babies' Use Online Dating to Cover Soaring Tuition". The Denver Post. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
Local law enforcement agencies say that because the site was set up like a dating website and advertised as facilitating consensual connections, it is not illegal.
- ^ Dolan, Eric W. (3 March 2024). "Psychological predictors of openness to sugar dating: Massive global study reveals key insights". PsyPost - Psychology News. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
- ^ Juan Fernández, Jorge de (2019). "El fenómeno sugar babies". 21. La Revista Cristiana de Hoy. 1029: 38–41.
- ^ Sex work or companionship? 'Sugar Dating' is growing in popularity, from Deutsche Welle
- ^ "'Sugar Dating' Is On the Rise In Malaysia. Naturally, It's Being Banned". www.vice.com. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "Sugarbook dating app maker arrested over 'promoting prostitution'". BBC News. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ ONG, JUSTIN (16 February 2021). "Banned in Malaysia, Sugarbook launches alternate website to circumvent MCMC". Malay Mail. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ Lawson, Leidra (2002). Sugar Daddy 101: What You Need to Know If You Want to be a Sugar Baby. Sugar Daddy 101. ISBN 9780972760805.
- ^ Agrell, Siri (19 July 2007). "Sugar daddies finding sugar babies". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 September 2019.