Rise Of The Salt Daddy

I’ve had more hungover Sunday burgers in this café than I care to admit, but I don’t think I’ll have as many fond memories from tonight’s visit. I spot Steve* when I’m three bites in. I take another as he draws nearer. That’s because I’m pretty sure.

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The growing number of millennial women now ‘dating up’ with sugar daddies has led to a strange new creature emerging from the depths. He’s old, charming and wants to date you. Oh, and he’s… broke this man has been lying to me about almost everything since we started chatting a few weeks ago. Especially about the size of his bank balance.

Steve and I have been asking each other how our days are going for what feels like a long time now, but tonight, we met IRL. When he originally suggested meeting up I was unsure. He’s nice. He never has me worrying that he won’t text back. He’s just a few years older than me. He’s funny, too. Perfect on computer screen, right? But that isn’t what made me cautious.

There is something unusual about how Steve and I met. We crossed profiles on SeekingArrangement, a site that launched 12 years ago and is famous for legitimising – and providing a platform for – sugar daddies (and the occasional mummy) to meet their sweettoothed cubs.

Kings and courtesans have been up to it since the court of Napoleon III, while in Japan, the art of ‘Enjo-kosai’ (roughly translated: ‘compensated dating,’ hmm... romantic) is well-practised and basically amounts to older men giving young attractive women money or presents in exchange for their company, and what my gran would describe as ‘a special time in the boudoir.’

Since then, it’s steadily been on the increase, with more and more women in particular using it as a way to obtain all the perks our status-driven society demands (the right bag, beauty hauls and those #lifegoals mini-breaks) – without the chance of earning the corresponding pay cheque to afford it ourselves.