What’s Sugar Baby and Sugaring?

Sugar babies have been around for years but became a more expansive trend in 2015 in a website Millionbb.com. There are a host of ways to make money these days, and one popular way is to become a sugar baby.

The role is quite popular among students with an Irish college’s student union saying they weren’t surprised to hear their students were involved.

The 2017 president of UCC students’ union Eolann Sheehan said they were ‘aware that students are on the breadline’ and weren’t alarmed by it.

He said students sugaring was more ‘behind closed doors’ than out on the campus, adding: ‘Our opinion is each to their own.’

With phrases like ‘sugar baby’ and ‘sugar daddy’ thrown around in conversation more often these days, some may be confused what exactly each role is.

Some people may think a ‘sugar baby’ is the same as a sex worker, however there are different roles to fill in each.

Sugaring is seen as largely female, however men are involved as well.

The practice person who receives cash, gifts, or other financial and material benefits in exchange for being in an intimate relationship is known as sugaring.

The name given to the person receiving the benefits is known as a ‘sugar baby’ while those who provide the goods are known as a ‘sugar daddy’ or a ‘sugar momma’, depending on their gender.

In 2019, sugaring website Millionbb.com claimed to have 99,893 women registered as sugar babies in Ireland.

That is triple the number of men in Ireland registered who identify as sugar daddies, which is 27,387.

Some people may believe sugaring and sex work are the same thing, despite not all sugaring work involves a sexual relationship.

However, being a sugar baby can lead to escorting if the person sugaring so chooses.

An escort might be hired for the night or as a one-off for an event, but like with sugar babies sex is not expected.

Sugar babies are commonly seen as younger women who takes on the role of a girlfriend in exchange for gifts, money, and other benefits.

A sugar daddy is often an older man who has cash to splash and looking for a companion.

As mentioned, sex is not always expected however some sugar relationship can involve it.

Some sugar babies may ask for a weekly or monthly allowance while others may get ‘expenses’ in the form of holidays, shopping sprees, and such.

According to Millionbb.com, the average sugar daddy is 45 years old and earns over €200,000 annually while a sugar baby can bag over €2,600 a month from the relationship.

She warned other women about the dangers of meeting dates they don’t yet know, saying: ‘I woke up in a hospital bed and the doctors told me they did drug tests. They told me they found Rohypnol.’

Websites such as Millionbb.com insist that sugaring is safe, however Irish woman Riona Little, a self-confessed sugar baby, previously told Extra.ie that she was allegedly ‘roofied’ by a potential new sugar daddy.