What would you do to get out of post secondary school debt free?
Among some Sheridan College students in Oakville, there appears to be an aversion to having a “sugar daddy” pay for their tuition. Especially if there’s an expectation of an intimate relationship.
“Sugar Daddy” is an online site set up to help young women and gay men forge a link with top earning individuals averaging in their 40s.
The Toronto Star recently published an article talking about how the site works. Brandon Wade, who founded the site in 2006, says that “some people are going there hoping to find someone to whom they’re attracted and to have physical intimacy. To deny that would be silly,” Wade said.
Many of the women and men attending Sheridan College, said they would not take part in a site like that.
“It’s nice that there are men out there that will provide for a woman like that, but it’s unnatural…the setup is unnatural. It’s morally wrong,” said Sarah Dos Santos, a student in the Journalism New Media program.
“I would feel like it would always be an underlying issue that I’m with this guy for money, and I would be weirded out,”said Angeleigh McQuade, a recent graduate of a make-up program. She jokes afterwards that she would go for it if things don’t work out with her current boyfriend.
“I don’t think I could take part in something like that just because I’d find it so hard to fake a relationship like that for so long. I mean, I’m not attracted to men of that age group,” said Dee Brayne, a recent graduate from Trent University’s psychology program.
Students on campus made their distaste for the site and the process clear. They believe it to be “immoral” and they would be “sacrificing their self-respect” by taking part in it. Only one female student said with enthusiasm that she would go for it.
Brayne offered an explanation as to why some people might participate.
“It could be argued from a sociological point of view that the sugar daddies are providing for young women because it is their so-called role as a man to do so. It is a little different in cases like these because the women are supposed to be using the money to pay for their schooling and theoretically the education would help them to become more independent and self-sufficient. However I think that the men would do it to boost their ego because having a lot of money and being able to attract beautiful young women is seen as a position of power in our society.”
Despite Sheridan students’ disinclination to use the site, there are still many women who signed up for it. The Toronto Star reports hundreds of Canadians have signed up, including 185 at Ryerson University alone.
