 Relationships (Outline) |
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Sugar dating, also calledsugaring,[1] is aninterpersonal relationship where in a financially successful person dates a less financially successful person (hypergamy). Typically, the financially successful person is older and wealthy, while the other person is typically younger,attractive, and interested in improving theirquality of life.[2] Sugaring can be classified as acompensatory relationship whereby the recipient obtains gifts such as jewelry,luxury goods, leisure outings, vacations, fine dining, financial support, ormentorship, meanwhile offering social benefits such as companionship, affection, dating orintimacy.[3][4][5]
The gift recipient is called asugar baby, and male sugar babies are referred to asgigolos. The providing partner is called asugar daddy orsugar mommy.[6] Sugar dating is especially popular in the online dating community due to the easy access to specific niches and desires.[7]
The 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 astreating, women with low-paying jobs relied upon men to provide them with money in exchange for being anescort.[8]
With the rising costs intuition, cuts toscholarships andbursaries, and the increasing pressures ofstudent 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 theirpost-secondary education.[10] Due to the nature and stigmatization ofsex 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 wasUS$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 traditionalgender roles,sociosexual orientation,parasite-stress theory,economic inequality,individualism, and personality traits like theDark Triad.[13]
There is debate about whether this practice can be consideredsex work; i.e., purchase of intimate attention, sexual or otherwise.[14] In an article fromDeutsche Welle, the CEO ofSeekingArrangement denied that the site played host to prostitutes and their customers, saying that "escorts and their clients are never welcome on our sites".[15]
InMalaysia, sugar dating is illegal,[16] to the point where the CEO of Malaysian sugar dating companySugarbook was arrested[17] and their website blocked by MalaysianInternet service providers.[18]
Sugaring has been called the modern-day counterpart of thecourtesan,[19][20] "a prostitute, especially one with wealthy or upper-class clients."
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.
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