Across Europe, large trailers displaying adverts have been rolling into capital cities. Yet these are by no means the usual pandemic publicity for the release of a new album or the next blockbuster. These billboards, which have been roaming the campuses of universities in Paris, Brussels and London, promote RichMeetBeautiful, a Norwegian firm which encourages students to âimprove your lifestyle – go out with a sugar daddyâ Â in addition to promises of âromantic passion and no student loans.â
âSugaringâ sites such as RichMeetBeautiful and SeekingArrangement.com are no ordinary dating platforms. The self-proclaimed âsugar daddy and sugar baby dating siteâ, RichMeetBeautiful, aims to match a âSugarbaby’ – âa beautiful young lady who is worth her weight in goldâ – with a respective, wealthy Sugardaddy. In this relationship âshe seeks to please her Sugardaddy by being available for him, sweetening his spare time and sharing his luxury lifestyle.â
Billboards from RichMeetBeautifulâs student campaign have since been seized by police in Paris and been banned by Belgiumâs advertising watchdog. While legislation appears to have made their mind up, a pertinent question remains: can you be a feminist and also a âSugarbabyâ?
Deputy Mayor of Paris, Helène Bidard, has branded the adverts âan offence against womenâ, yet the founder of SeekingArrangement, Brandon Wade, argues that the origins of the site had feminism at the forefront. Wade suggested that âSeekingArrangement.com was created to empower womenâ in a 2012 statement for National Womenâs Month. âA sugar baby is an empowered woman who is tired of dating losers that contribute nothing to her life. She has made a commitment to only date men who will help her to achieve her goals.â
In an interview with FRANCE 24âs Observers magazine, a former student who used the site has spoken candidly about how being âdesperate for moneyâ ultimately led her to signing up: âI could get two weeksâ wages in two hoursâ, she stated. The anonymous contributor branded her use of the site âirresponsibleâ, however she suggested her experience was one of power, not submission. âI felt that while men do take advantage of women, I was also taking advantage of them most of the time. I would think, âWhat an idiot, youâre paying me that much for just 10 minutes? More fool you.ââ
Agony aunt for The Independent, Virginia Ironside, found nothing “morally wrong” with the site. “Women are much more pragmatic about sex, less soppy than men. If you’re a hard-up single mum and there was somebody you found not too unattractive and don’t go any further than you want to, I can’t see anything intrinsically wrong.â
With RichMeetBeautifulâs ambition to increase its UK membership by 100,000, and its advertisements towards students still parading around London university campuses such as LSE and Kings College London, will students in the UKâs most expensive city – and 17th most expensive in the world – be coerced into registering?
SeekingArrangement guarantees its members an average of ÂŁ2000 per month in allowances. With the average UK debt upon graduation reaching ÂŁ50,000 (The Guardian), âsugaringâ is perhaps a fairly straightforward way for students to fund their tuition – and fast. It appears that UK students have taken note: SeekingArrangement revealed that a quarter of a million UK students were registered on the site in 2016, a 40% increase in comparison to the previous year (The Independent).
But will these students be cashing in on a legal prostitution loophole?
âProstitution is black and white; itâs just an exchange of sex for money,â says Angela Jacob Bermudo, public-relations manager for SeekingArrangement. âOn SeekingArrangement, people are coming to find their ideal relationship. Itâs about the connection. These men are shelling out $3,000 a month for a sugar baby. Thatâs not something that a man is going to spend for a simple, one-night engagement.â
Members of such sites may come away with more than just a pretty penny, says Brandon Wade. He told The Tab that students also look for future job prospects: âAt a time when graduates are guaranteed debt rather than a well-paying job, or even employment for that matter, Sugar Daddies are sought out for opportunity and not just financial stability.â
The concept of being a âsugar babyâ remains a hotly contested issue: some see it as a feminist handling of power and advantage, whilst others render it a blatant exploitation of the financially vulnerable.Â
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