When thinking about the average college experience, many people think about parties, stressful exams and getting enough sleep to make it through the day. On the other hand, some students are willing to do what they need to live comfortably while in school.
Georgia State is one of the highest-ranking schools for students involved in sugaring. Sugar baby, sugaring and sugar dating are all synonymous. It is an act where one individual receives a large amount of money, gifts or fine dining in exchange for personal and often sexual favors requested by another individual.
Jaray Mazique, the on-campus advisor for the Office of Dean of Students, spoke about the risks of being a sugar baby. Alongside her was New York Post national correspondent and reporter Gabrielle Fonrouge, who dedicates some of her work to shed more light on sexual abuse and human trafficking.
During the virtual event “When Sugaring Is Not Sweet,” both speakers cleared the air on misconceptions about this kind of relationship and how easy it is to get lost in the glamour and pleasure of it all.
“You’re in this relationship, and you’re told that there’s an exchange of mentoring, access and networking,” Fonrouge said. “But there is also this relationship, romantic and sexual component to it as well.”
From the outside looking in, sugaring can appear as simple as giving someone companionship, but in reality, many sugaring arrangement sites promote young women to engage in prostitution.
“It might come as a guise of something more like a relationship, and maybe it starts out that way, but eventually a time is going to come where you have to pay,” Fonrouge said. “You could very easily be put into a very dangerous situation where it’s forced on you, or you fight your way out.”
Some students find themselves introduced to the sugaring lifestyle due to peer pressure. Finding a sugar daddy or mama is as easy as downloading an app or signing up for a website.
“When it comes to sugaring, it’s almost as if you want other people to be involved in it to make yourself feel better about it,” Fonrouge said. “This is not your passion that you went to college for, and no one is going to do this if they have another means of income.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures, but it is important to know why some students choose to be sugar babies. Sometimes it is a call for help, and all that person needs is advice or guidance.
“Keeping an open mind is what I found to be the most effective in dealing with these sort of situations,” Fonrouge said. “Bringing up the long-term impacts of how it’s going to affect you and future relationships is really going to get someone’s mind going.”
