Prostitutes or students? Vulnerable victims or tech-savvy businesswomen? Whatever your opinion on sugar babies, there is no doubting one label in this part of the country: it's popular.
According to leading sugar baby website Seeking Arrangement, Florida coeds are taking up the profession like nowhere else in the nation. Forget Sunshine. Screw oranges. Florida is well on its way to becoming the "Sugar Baby State."
With the sugar lifestyle oozing across South Florida, New Times set out to explore this secret world. We found it ain't all sweet. The stories we discovered -- including sugar babies scared for their safety, others covered in honey and feathers or crotch-stomping for cash -- are in this week's feature. Keep reading for a taste.
See also: Seeking Arrangement and Other Sugar Daddy Sites Help Miami Coeds Get Out of Debt
We spoke to roughly a dozen SoFla coeds who are paying their way through college by hooking up with wealthy sugar daddies.
Here's an excerpt from our article:
New Times wanted to see for ourselves, so we set-up an account [on Seeking Arrangement]. We sent messages to 40 sugar babies, ranging from18-year-old college students to middle-aged single moms. Nearly a dozen replied to our request for an interview. "What's the compensation?" one asked. A sugar baby with an Ivy League diploma suggested we meet up to talk politics before realizing she was talking to a reporter. "Eeek. No thank you," she wrote. "I cannot risk exposure."
A few women were frank about exchanging sex for money. "Some men just solicit me for sex," said a buxom 25-year-old with peroxide blond hair and a criminal record. "That's OK as long as they know that they will have to support me in some way. That's what the site entitles. I make sure that they know what's up."This woman said that of her sugar daddies, one had a taste for cocaine and threesomes. Another paid her $1,200 for bi-weekly humiliations. She would walk into a hotel room to find the businessman dressed in a bra, panties, high heels, and lipstick. She would lie on the bed while he covered her in honey and chicken feathers. "He would enjoy pouring honey on me and licking it off as I insulted him," she said. "I would tell him what a bitch or cunt or queer or cross-dressing freak he was."
"I use my looks and personality and charm to get what I want: cars, shoes, trips," she said. "My mom always told me: 'You're not going to be beautiful and young forever. Use it or you're going to lose it.'"
Read the rest of our feature on Sugar Babies here.
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