Our campus is covered in white and although it’s that time of year it’s not snow. It’s sugar! Sugar Babies! Our campus has been “candied”. The infamous seekingarrangement.com has listed Georgia State as the No. 1 fastest growing source of Sugar Babies. With many claiming the phenomena to be a similitude of prostitution and exploitation, how should we feel as students of a candied campus? To objectively answer this we must dispel a few myths and state the facts. Here we go!
Myth #1: “A Sugar Baby is female.” This is the biggest and often exploited misconception of Sugar Babies. Male Sugar Babies aren’t as uncommon as one might think with the site reporting 100 maleSugar Babies to every one Sugar Mommy on the site.
Myth #2: “Sugar Babies are forced to have sex.” Sugar Babies are not underage, nor are they oblivious to the arrangement they agree to. While sex or sexual contact is not a factor in all of these mutually beneficial arrangements, it is certainly not to be shunned.
And finally, Myth # 3: “Sugar Daddies hold the exclusive power of picking their Sugar Baby.” Quite the contrary! The site informs Sugar Babies that they should expect financial assistance while Sugar Daddies/Mommies are required to list both their income and net worth.
With these myths discarded we can now take an objective look at this.
We demonize the honesty that takes place in these arrangements instead of appreciating it. Ashleymadison.com is the world’s leading married dating service for discrete encounters with a slogan that reads: “Life is short. Have an affair.” This site hasn’t received a quarter of the press seekingarrangement.com has and they promote dishonesty.
Tuition and fees for students at Georgia State has increased and cuts on HOPE don’t help. We are all seeking ways to meet this bill that comes around every semester. Slicing pizzas, alphabetizing books, exotic dancing and pouring drafts are all ways we go about this and are arrangements we agree to.
One popular arrangement is marriage. Many contemporary marriages are arranged for security purposes and our society encourages it. Tax breaks through joint filing, property inheritance, and social security increases are all privileges provided to married people. So why do we reign hellfire and brimstone on these “candy couples”?
We are traditional people in a traditional world and as soon as a bit of color splashes up on our dull shores we run for the ashy hills. The truth is we could learn a little something from these non-traditional arrangements. Lack of finances and communication are the leading causes of divorce and this non-traditional arrangement has a generous amount of both. Providing an open channel of communication, it pushes these factors to the forefront of the relationship, ensuring that no parties’ time is wasted.
We need not be sour about our sweetened campus. Instead let’s embrace the courage of our fellow peers who dare to swim upstream against the current in an effort to obtain a higher education.
