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DON’T WORK, MAKE MONEY<br />
Worldwide, 2.7 million sugar babies are registered<br />
on Seeking Arrangement alone, 1.5 million of them<br />
students. According to Let’s Talk Sugar (a forum<br />
where ‘babies’ can discuss experiences and find tips) there<br />
are “thousands of sugar babies in the sugar bowl”, i.e. about<br />
8-12 sugar babies for each daddy, so competition is tough.<br />
But a new industry is already catering to the community with<br />
courses to learn how to make a profile stand out, and annual<br />
Sugar Baby Summits in New York, Los Angeles and London<br />
with courses, lectures and discussions.<br />
Meanwhile, more and more wealthy gay men and older<br />
women are joining the sugar bowl. Lucas, a 23-year-old<br />
Berliner – blonde, tall, handsome and self-confident – dates<br />
both. “But only over 45! They are more giving,” the fashion<br />
student is quick to clarify. “I do some modelling and DJing,<br />
but I don’t earn much. I like to party and I like nice things!<br />
Lucas’ first sugar daddy was an accident. “I’d just met an<br />
older guy on Grindr three or four years ago and he got me<br />
nice things, he was really like a father to me but I didn’t like<br />
fucking him.” When they broke up Lucas turned to platforms<br />
like Gay Arrangement and Seeking Arrangement. “It<br />
gives me the opportunity to set my own rules. I don’t have<br />
to sleep with anyone if I don’t want to. And I don’t want to<br />
most of the time. I also prefer cash instead of gifts, so I make<br />
that clear, too,” says the cheerful Berliner. You can tell he<br />
works out and has the cash to buy designer clothes. “I actually<br />
made this coat myself!” he says proudly. “I started with<br />
gay men only and then I realised that there are older women<br />
looking for companionship, too. So I changed my status to<br />
‘looking for both daddies and mommas.’” Lucas explains<br />
that the latter are mostly rich widows or women who were<br />
left by their husbands for a younger girl, or who are being<br />
cheated on and ignored. “They’re lonely, they want someone<br />
to compliment them, to pay them attention, to make them<br />
feel that they matter!”<br />
Lucas is glad to provide all the above, but not sex. “I do<br />
sleep with girls, but I’ve never slept with any of my female<br />
clients! With women, age matters more to me. So I accompany<br />
them to the theatre and the opera, to dinner, to fashion<br />
shows, to shopping, I even come over and just chat, but the<br />
most I did was kissing one of the ladies, who asked me very<br />
kindly to make her feel like a beautiful woman. I couldn’t say<br />
no to that!” Lucas has two female and four male clients at the<br />
moment. That means earning just enough for a cosy tworoom<br />
Altbau flat in Kreuzberg, a wardrobe filled with designer<br />
clothing, and eating out every single day. Not such a shabby<br />
life for a student.<br />
“Women give me all sorts of presents, even if I tell them<br />
not to. They can’t get rid of the momma inside of them! Men<br />
are different. They do what I tell them most of the time. I<br />
thought that rich gay men would be very demanding and<br />
controlling in a situation like this, but I totally feel like I am<br />
the one controlling them, because I am young and in a good<br />
shape and they want me so bad. One of my clients is a married<br />
man. His wife has no idea that he is seeing boys. I know<br />
I’m not even his only sugar baby! Another guy wants no sex<br />
at all, he just wants to hold hands and go for walks. People’s<br />
needs are so different and I am happy to please them.”<br />
Does he sometimes miss a real, romantic relationship? “It<br />
would just make life more complicated. This is simple and yet<br />
fun. I am young, I am free, I live in an age where anything is<br />
possible. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a guy who will kickstart<br />
my career and help me launch my own line of clothing!” ■<br />
EINFACH!<br />
DEUTSCH<br />
LERNEN.<br />
goethe.de/berlin<br />
MAY <strong>2018</strong><br />
Sprache. Kultur. Deutschland.<br />
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