Vixen Temple, a year-old Auckland stripper who has been operating as a sugar baby for two years, is familiar with that sentiment. The idea of sugar dating was always attractive to Temple, and once she started stripping she was frequently offered opportunities to meet up with her male clients after hours. And sure enough, she found plenty of them. Hanne Rachael, 28, began sugar dating in and now runs an online platform and Facebook group for sugar babies and other sex workers called The Slut Project 2.
Rachael says she dated this way for a number of years and enjoyed the variety of men she encountered. Some were older, but one of my first sugar daddies was 24 — the same age I was at the time. I want a comfortable lifestyle. But the industry carries risk. There is a lot of predatory behaviour. I, myself, have been scammed out of my payment, and manipulated into having sex without a condom.
And that manipulation is something the NZPC is concerned about too. Young people will trust their client, do the service, and the money never comes through.
Temple agrees. She lives with the experience of being assaulted by a client. And always use a condom. Sometimes a young person will arrange a date for some cash without really consciously deciding to do sex work. Fraser warns against judgment. Vixen Temple agrees. Come to them with listening ears and be their safety net. NZPC offers support to all sex workers needing a helping hand in the form of education, awareness and legal assistance as well as lube, condoms and dams.
She would like to see sex work — and sugar dating in particular — included as part of the sexual health curriculum at high school. They all know it exists already — some are doing it — and teaching people about their rights means if a young person has something go wrong while sugar dating, they have an avenue to talk about it, and are better protected from the negative outcomes.
