“Yes, I am a kinky ‘Daddy’ that likes to role play.”
This is the opening line of a message I received on the sugar daddy dating website, SeekingArrangement.com. After hearing about a friend of mine who joined the site, my curiosity overpowered me and I made a mock account. My persona, “Lo,” was a medical school student seeking a man to spend time with for the minor cost of $5,000 to $10,000 a month.
SeekingArrangement is designed for generous men and women to find young and attractive mates to spoil. According to the website, users are, “seeking mutually beneficial arrangements.”
The sugar babies are preferably young, attractive and adventurous. Each profile states the desired monthly “allowance,” with some room to negotiate. The sugar mommas and daddies are looking for lighthearted companionship with no strings attached.
It’s not exactly a dating website in the conventional sense because the ultimate goal isn’t finding love. It’s about living in the moment and having a good time. Students in need of tuition assistance commonly participate in these sugar daddy relationships. For the price of spending time with a most likely older person multiple times a month, students can ease the burden of paying back student loans.
To prevent scarring any readers, further details of what the sugar daddy with a passion for role-play continued to say to me will not be provided. However, a man in his 80s who owns a luxury hotel in Mexico may be worthwhile.
In my SeekingArrangement account’s short four-day life span, I received three messages from sugar daddies on the prowl.
One message was from a 41-year-old man living in Carlsbad who said he was “looking for a young, attractive girl who wants to be taken care of and treated like a lady.”
Another message was sent from a man who said: “I am open to various kinds of arrangements. What I do expect is one well-groomed and beautiful companion with whom spending time will be refreshing, drama free and will always leave me looking forward to our next time together.”
San Diego State child and family development senior Lauren Greenstadt said the website “seems strikingly similar to escorting.”
“I think it can be easily mistaken for a dating website until you read what the people on the website are looking for,” Greenstadt said. “SeekingArrangement has people just looking for fancy dinners with attractive people.”
Greenstadt said she would try to discourage her friends from getting involved with this website. Although members have the option to pay for verification, she thinks anyone on the site should do as much research on his or her potential suitor as possible.
Despite the absence of a stated requirement to engage in sexual relations, it can be inferred that the men and women on the site are expecting them.
SDSU marketing junior Robert Cloughley said the whole idea of the website is “pretty out there.”
“I think it’s messed up that these old men pay young girls to hang out with them,” Cloughley said. “I feel like what some of these creepy men want should be illegal. It’s kind of disgusting that men like that are out there.”
SDSU journalism junior Carla Romero thinks the website isn’t very different from other dating websites because it’s based oon appeal. Instead of picking a date because of attraction or religious or ethnic background, this website’s users select dates by their wealth and beauty.
Romero said the only dating website that could successfully be used to find true love is eHarmony.
She isn’t interested in claiming the title of a sugar baby, but doesn’t judge any of the people who are active on the site.
“Honestly, whatever floats their boat,” Romero said.
It takes a unique business model to stand out in the midst of all the dating websites currently on the market. The combination of a failing economy and lonely people may just be the ticket for this site to blossom.
