I founded this business 21 years ago and really thought that I had seen just about everything in the employment world but then a press release crossed my desk today that made my jaw drop. Incredibly, SeekingArrangement.com bills itself as a dating website for Sugar Daddy’s (typically male managers) and Sugar Babies (typically female job seekers). Not sleazy enough for you? These, ahem, matchmakers are now trying to leverage the recent revelations that President John Kennedy apparently had an 18 month affair with a 19 year White House intern.
Which sleaze to tackle first? Well, let’s start with the JFK story. According to her recently published memoir, Mimi Alford had an 18 month affair with President John F. Kennedy when she was a 19 years old virgin, while she was working as a White House intern. Though this revelation may come as a shock to those who thought the White House would be resilient to such clichés, it actually marks the beginning of an upward trend in American society. Today, such workplace affairs between a much more powerful Sugar Daddy, and a much younger Sugar Baby is, unfortunately, already well entrenched in the American popular culture.
So onto sleaze number two. According to SeekingArrangement.com, which somehow takes pride in billing itself as the largest Sugar Daddy dating website in the United States, as many as 12 percent of its Sugar Daddy members have followed in President Kennedy’s footsteps by adding Sugar Babies onto their payroll. Earlier in 2009, the website named President Kennedy as the most famous Sugar Daddy for his relationship with American icon, Marilyn Monroe. “We already know that President Kennedy was a married Sugar Daddy, and a charming playboy much like Hugh Hefner,” says Brandon Wade, Founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement.com. “However, if Mimi’s account is accurate, JFK’s relationship with her may have been considered sexual harassment at the workplace by today’s legal standards.”
On SeekingArrangement.com, approximately two in five Sugar Daddy members are in powerful employer positions, including numerous high-level to mid-level Fortune 1000 executives, politicians, entrepreneurs and small business owners.
In a recent survey conducted by the website, 63 percent of its Sugar Babies members polled say they would consider accepting a position to work for their Sugar Daddy. And the top three reasons Sugar Babies are attracted to such career-oriented Sugar arrangements:
- Career opportunities with better salary and career advancement opportunities;
- Benefits of Sugar Daddy mentorship and career advice; and
- Mixing pleasure and work can be a lot more fun.
Apparently the survey didn’t provide an option for low self-esteem, mental illness, or any number of other less positive motivating reasons.
“Workplace Sugar relationships are a part of our popular culture, and its attraction has only increased during the past few years as our economy has tanked,” says Wade, who holds a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “When a Sugar Daddy hires a Sugar Baby to work for him, it is like hiring one’s wife or girlfriend. The absence of any unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances makes such Sugar arrangements a healthy and legal alternative to workplace sexual harassment.”
The press release welcomes phone calls and emails from those who wish to interview Brandon Wade or speak with members of SeekingArrangement.com regarding workplace Sugar relationships. I’m thinking that it would better for them to receive a lot of phone calls and emails from those who don’t appreciate the promotion of sexual exploitation in the workplace or, for that matter, anywhere else. You can reach them at press@seekingarrangement.com or (702) 241-0100.
