Chelsea Klaiber/Contributing Writer
Recently the Beacon published some thoughts about the sugar daddy website, seekingarrangement.com, of which FIU ranks in the top ten for college student users. Those thoughts were generally judgmental, harsh and in my opinion, not necessary.
We need to give the female students who choose to use that website more credit. They are all adults in college who are more than likely already aware of the risks that come along with meeting men on the internet. The potential dangers- sexual assault, robbery or even murder- are a risk when using any dating website, yet it is not seen as a big deal when anyone uses one of those.
Not to mention, seekingarrangement.com does have features that other typical datingwebsites do not have to ensure safety. The site allows sugar daddies to pay a one-time fee to be background verified, so sugar babies can be certain they are who they claim to be. Popular dating sites such as OKCupid and Plenty of Fish do not have this feature, so in a way, those could possibly be more dangerous.
I also think it’s easy for us to sit back and say “just get a job” to the women who use the website, but we aren’t thinking about the bigger picture. Though FIU is one of the less expensive universities in the country, it still is thousands of dollars a semester, and for on-campus residents, it’s even more pricey. This can be tough for students to pay even with a job.
I’m sure a majority of the students who use seekingarrangement.com do not do it for fun or because it’s the easy way out. They do it because it’s the only way to better their lives by getting a college education and still being able to have food to eat when they go home. We need to be more empathetic toward people who have different economic situations than we do. Not everyone qualifies for loans or grants or has financial support from their family.
Maybe there are some students who do choose to use it because it’s quick cash. Regardless of the reason why, it shouldn’t matter. This is 2013. We live in a time where women have the freedom to take charge of their sexuality and their lives. This is not our place to shame and judge them.
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