According to Wikipedia, ‘sugar daddy’ is a slang term for a man who offers support (typically financial and material) to a younger companion (typically a female), with the sugar daddy getting favors (typically sexual) in return from the younger companion.
Urban Dictionary defines the term ‘sugar baby’ as a young female or male who is financially pampered/cared for by a sugar daddy or sugar mama in exchange for companionship (i.e. sexual favors).
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One of the most popular sites catering to these ‘sugars’ is SeekingArrangement.com. And according to its CEO, Brandon Wade, the number of female students from various UK universities who signed up for the sites has increased in the last few years. Just last month, over 200 skint Northern Ireland students from Queen’s University of Belfast have signed up to the Seeking Arrangement website.
SeekingArrangement.com
SeekingArrangement helps sugar daddies find sugar babies or vice versa. These sugar babies are usually cash-strapped young women, who are financially helped by these sugar daddies in exchange for their company, and more often than not, for physical intimacy. Apparently, these university-going young women are ditching their part-time jobs and signing up to the popular website in search of sugar daddies who’d help ease their financial burden.
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These sugar babies are paid on an average £5,000 a month by their sugar daddies. This is called an ‘arrangement,’ with the money exchanged called ‘allowance,’ where the sugar babies sometimes accompany their sugar daddies to restaurants, functions, and even spend weekends away and nights in hotels. Some of these sugar daddies are older than their fathers.
An advert released by the website SeekingArrangement in order to recruit more university students
The annual ranking released by the website shows the fastest growing sugar baby schools of 2015, with Queen’s University taking the 10th position in the UK, with a 49.41 percent increase in signups compared to the previous year.
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According to Brandon Wade, the site boasts of more than 1.4 million profiles belonging to students worldwide. Talking about the upsurge in enrolment by students on the site, Wade believes the exorbitant university fees are to blame.
“Tripling tuition fees are crippling students, who are left to sort out how to afford their education. True, they can do it the hard way, but why struggle when there are people who are happy to help?” he said.
A promotional image for the SeekingArrangement website
Further, he said,
“Three-quarters of graduates won’t even be able to pay off their debt. Sugaring not only aids in the cost of pursing an education, but a large majority of these men and women will have a more solid financial situation upon graduation – maybe even a job.”
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And Brandon Wade isn’t preaching what he doesn’t practice. Brandon, 44, met his much younger wife, Tanya, whom he interviewed for a position on the site three years ago. They dated for two years, following which they got hitched and currently call Las Vegas, Nevada, their home.
According to the figures arrived at by the website, an average student on the site spends their ‘allowance’ on rent, tuitions fees, and books. Most of these young women are undergraduates, although about 27 percent of them are post-grads.
A person who wishes to join the website, has to reveal what role they will be playing – the role of a sugar daddy, mama, or baby. If they are a sugar baby, they need to enter their lifestyle expectations and if they are the daddy, they enter the budget they’re willing to spend on their sugar babies.
The infographic showing the top 20 sugar baby schools of 2015 in the UK
SeeingArrangement and other similar sites that cater to this specific … ‘arrangement,’ promote the sugar daddy/sugar baby relationship as a mutually beneficial arrangement. And if the figures are anything to go by, it works. SeekingArrangement is the biggest player in the pool with more than 4 million members from across 139 countries.
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SeekingArrangement claims to offer a ‘relationship on your terms’ between the two parties.
Brandon Wade said,
“An arrangement is where people are direct. It allows people to immediately define what they need and want in a relationship – everyone gets what they want.”
Huh. Whether this is an actual mutually beneficial ‘arrangement’ or stops short of prostitution – as some people have accused the site of propagating – the important thing is that both the sugar babies and the sugar daddies are adults, and they can pretty much do anything they want, as long it’s legal and mutually consensual.
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