Sugar Baby or sugar prostitution?
The concepts of Sugar Baby and Sugar Daddy are very old, only before they received more Creole names: “the beloved”, “the second front”, “the lover” and much further back in time, “kept woman”. This type of relationship was made up of a man in an economically advantaged position who could cover the living expenses of a woman in exchange for her sexual favors and, if possible, her affection. A clean, crystal clear and pure accord.
With the arrival of the anglicisms Sugar Baby and Sugar Daddy, not only did the name of the actors change, but the game became more open and more marketable. In the past, relationships between lovers arose stealthily in the corridors of offices between bosses and secretaries, in hospitals between doctors and nurses, or in universities between professors and students. It was a game of seduction and passion that sometimes touched on love. The financial support the man offered the woman was given discreetly, so as not to offend or insult the lady in question. “It was a support, not a payment”, she thought and said to herself.
Today the heiress of this 20th century lover is much more open and casual and offers herself through social networks, especially on platforms designed to find partners: “I am looking for a generous gentleman to help me pay for university. I am 20 years old, I have a pretty face, green eyes and a good body. Only for serious people.” And so, from the outset, the terms of the relationship are very clear and established.
In Europe and the United States, relationships between a young girl and her sugar daddy can take place in a more discreet, old-fashioned way: little by little, the older gentleman takes over the living expenses of the Sugar Baby. The gentleman, of course, aspires to exclusivity as the relationship at times flirts with romance. The man or sugar daddy is not always a married man. The basic characteristics of him are his mature age and with enough financial solvency to provide the sugar baby with what she could not achieve on her own.
Three years ago a young Ukrainian woman known as Katia sold her virginity to the highest bidder. It was a public act that generated much controversy and conflicting opinions. Was the girl a prostitute marketing her sex to the highest bidder? Let’s see, but if the girl was 19 years old and still a virgin, in the 21st century, can we accuse her of being a whore? Socially speaking, what would have been considered correct? That the girl had offered up her virginity on a drunken night at 15, with any of the idiots from her class? But far from that, the girl got an offer of almost 800,000 euros, which allowed her to guarantee her university studies and travel the world, which was her wish.
More recently, the 19-year-old model known as Giselle managed to sell her “immaculate flower” for three million dollars. The winner, a powerful businessman from Abu Dhabi, offered to marry the virginal model, in addition to a monthly rent of $11,000. A genuine sugar daddy.
Because the relationship between the Sugar Baby and her daddy can even go as far as marriage, and it could work well, while it lasts. It was what in the past was known as a marriage of convenience. But, in the long run, what marriage isn’t?
In the United States and Europe there are Sugar Dating platforms where girls between the ages of 18 and 30 offer their company to older men willing to pay for it. Sex is not always present. For joining her daddy for dinner, these girls charge up to $50. For a kiss, up to $20. 63% of these young women are university students, perhaps attracted by the motto of these Internet pages: “Graduate without debts”.
In Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, the dynamics of the relationship between the Sugar Baby and her protector is much starker: a girl needs economic support and a gentleman will offer it to her in exchange for her sexual favors. The relationship can be brief or long-lasting, and at no time does the girl feel obligated to exclusivity. Her commitment is to provide sexual pleasure. Nothing else. This behavior based on the exchange of sex for money brings her very close to the concept of a call girl, not to say that it’s really just another modality of the girls who dedicate themselves to this job.
The problems and risks to which these young women are exposed are not very different from those that threaten a prepaid girl. In principle it is an agreement made between adults, but let’s not forget that when deals are made between people with different levels of power, there is basically a relationship of blackmail. And so, the weak side can be involved in situations of harassment, physical or mental abuse, threats, pressure to do things that she does not want, etc. Who pays is who rules. And that may be worse than it sounds.
In Colombia this modality has become very fashionable, especially in the departments of Tolima, Antioquia, Nariño and Cordoba. A curious fact is that Colombian sugar daddies are not usually “grandparents” but successful young people between 28 and 35 years old, willing to pay well for pleasant company.
In Bogotá, a Sugar Baby is basically a catalog girl with a fairly exclusive and select clientele. A type of call girls hidden under the facade of a more sophisticated name: the Sugar Baby.
