In a state like Nevada where the EHM is located (in Las Vegas to be exact) prostitution is legal (in some counties), with rarely a confusion over what exactly is and isn’t prostitution.
What is or isn’t prostitution isn’t always so easily defined though in places where the oldest profession is illegal, or on the web where folks might be trying to hide what they do under the umbrella of a seemingly new cultural social interaction.
Such might very well be the case with Sugar Babies.
In this recent USA Today report: http://college.usatoday.com/2016/07/21/to-pay-for-college- more-students- are-becoming- sugar-babies/ we learn that young college student ladies are registering on sites like SeekingArrangement.com and charging for time they spend with older gentleman. In lots of cases reported the college students are making enough money for books and even tuition, treating their web hook-ups like “OkCupid, but for money,” as one young ‘Sugar Baby claims.
But is SeekingArrangement and sites like https://www.letstalksugar.com/ promoting prostitution?
The “Sugar Baby University,” platform on SeekingArrangement
(https://www.seekingarrangement.com/sugar-baby- university/) promotes
“companionship.” Of the over 5 million users here (2 million are college students)
one finds that the countries with the highest number of sugar babies across the
world are: the U.S, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Colombia, in
descending order. Allowances are set up, daddies pay $49.95 per month for a
premium membership and sugar babies can sign-up for free.
To be clear, sugar mommas also pay for sugar baby companionship. And there are
sugar boys out there as well.
Beyond the stigma that comes from critics considering the wide differences in ages
between the sugar babies and their daddies, the question crossing many peoples’
minds (as well as the IRS) is if the money exchanged here is actually for services
that could be considered prostitution. A mutually beneficial relationship where
both parties define their terms, communicate their needs and wants and are always
consenting is the basis of any healthy relationship.
Whether or not these relationships are healthy is unknown, but they likely have both positive and negative consequences that will impact those involved.
-RG
Image Credit: Unknown.
