In an age where the internet rules everything and everyone, it comes as no surprise that people use it as a route to fun, love and money.
When it comes to online dating, it has become one of the most popular ways to meet someone. Around one in five relationships in the UK now start online, with almost 50 million people in America having tried online dating as well.
There are the mainstream dating websites everyone would be familiar with such as Match.com, however, when you delve deeper into the internet there are a whole array of different dating websites; one of the most fascinating, and some would say controversial, is the world of ‘sugar daddies’.
A sugar daddy is an individual, stereotypically an older male, who takes younger women on dates and treats them to a lavish lifestyle in exchange for both their company and sometimes for sexual favours.
The image of sugar daddy websites is carefully crafted [SeekingArrangement]
Their motto ‘relationships on your terms’ adds to their ethos of an ethical dating website.
Founder and CEO, Brandon Wade explains: “Unlike other dating websites, it’s my commitment to operate our business ethically. This means caring about your privacy, encrypting identifiable data, and never employing fake profiles or software bots.”
Another dating website, Sugar Daddy For Me, is said to be the largest sugar daddy dating service, with more than 2,000 users joining up every day, on average.
Their website promotes that ‘a sugar relationship is very simply a relationship based upon mutual spoiling – and what’s wrong with that?’
Sugar Daddy For Me has been around since 2005 and is most popular all over America, although everyone is welcome to become a user; they even have a channel on YouTube, handing out advice for their users.
One video named ‘How To Ask Your Sugar Daddy For Your Allowance’, consists of a five minute pep talk, giving people advice on how to ask this sensitive question. With more than 29,000 views, users seem to have found it helpful.
However, despite the glossy presentation, there is a known issue to online dating as a whole, especially sugar daddy dating.
Some people feel like dating a man purely for money is dishonest, and that you should date someone you actually have a connection to, not just for financial benefits.
Writer Mélanie Berliet decided to try out the sugar daddy dating life for herself, as she explains in her article for Vanity Fair called ‘Desperately Seeking Sugar Daddies‘.
Mélanie joined the website Seeking Arrangement partly as a social experiment, and partly out of ‘genuine desperation’.
After an unsuccessful date with a guy she named ‘Hank’, Mélanie’s next few requests were just not for her. One sugar daddy complained about how his disability made it difficult for him to pick up women, one request had a fetish for submissives and offered to pay Mélanie $4,500 a month to bring his fetish to life – and that was just a select few of her examples.
Melanie finally came across a decent guy called Charlie, but after countless requests to spoil her were declined; she realised she liked being financially independent.
On reflection, Mélanie explained: “After dating through Seeking Arrangement, my overall outlook on romance became more realistic. I truly believe everyone is seeking an arrangement or sorts, whether or not they’re willing to admit it.
“Some are more comfortable hiding behind the ruffles of convention than others. I’m content to recognize that there’s an economic component to most if not all romantic relationships, and that that’s okay.
“Money matters, and there’s no way around that unless you want to give up all your worldly possessions and live on a commune—something I’m totally uninterested in, personally.”
To read her article in full, find it here.
Whether sugar daddy dating is for you or not, there is no denying that it has changed and made an impact on peoples lives.
It goes to show, with the help of the world wide web, the possibilities are endless when it comes to dating and life as a whole.
Featured image by Jaysin Trevino via Flickr CC