The Vote: Sugar Daddy Parties

OLDER men paying younger women for their company? Is that what I think it is? Not quite, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it is sugar-coated prostitution.

We’re actually talking about sugar daddies, or at least the sugar daddy party club nights that have become popular in New York and are said to be coming to the UK.

"Men, you know what to do. Women, receive their generosity. We will touch you with passion and fire all night long."

So how do they work? Well, you know when you see a young, leggy blonde dripping in designer labels on the arm of an old man who has pound signs - as well as wiry grey hairs – sprouting from his every orifice? There’s a high chance he’s a sugar daddy.

They may therefore, have met at a sugar daddy party. He was one of many wealthy men in the club that night. She was one of a bevy of beauties. It wasn’t love at first sight, but they did manage to come to an ‘arrangement’: he gives her money and/or assets in exchange for her company and er...assets.

Thinking about her credit card bill and the Louboutins she’ll never otherwise afford, Sophie disappears into the night with Harold. The end.

Sophie and Harold: loves young (and old) dream

Despite originating from the dating scene, it sounds more like money-hungry-whores than lonely hearts.  And don’t even get me started on the men, in particularly organiser Alan Schneider, who makes the following announcement at the beginning of each party:

"Men, you know what to do. Women, receive their generosity. We will touch you with passion and fire all night long."

It sounds like a warped scene from Aladdin, except Jasmine must rub up an old man to have her wishes granted. It’s all consenting behaviour of course, which is why you can’t say one participant in these inherently wrong pairings is worse than the other.

The women are unashamedly with the men for their own personal monetary gain. The men like the manifestation of their power, control and influence.

It’s desperate on both accounts, but the truth is it happens all the time with or without such organised parties. At least this way, the man isn’t deluded into thinking the woman is actually with him for more than the money, nor does the woman have to justify herself to anyone a la Anna Nicole Smith. It is what it is.

With plans to launch in Manchester and London, Schneider believes it’s going to be the new big dating craze/business opportunity in the UK.

Romance isn’t dead. It’s negotiable, apparently.

Do you think sugar daddy parties are mutually beneficial pairings or just plain old prostitution?

Follow Lynda on Twitter @lyndamoyo