Cape Town - Looking for a modern-day sugar daddy?
New dating website Aluxxa. com, now launched in South Africa, caters for young, attractive women, allowing them to filter the profiles of driven, successful men by occupation.
But these men aren’t your mother’s idea of sugar daddies.
Today’s sugar babies are looking for men in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are passionate about their careers – rather than the much older, wealthier men that were the sugar daddies of the past, according to Aluxxa.com’s research.
The new sought-after sugar daddies must have the disposable income necessary to travel and enjoy the finer things in life, but they don’t have to be millionaires.
Aluxxa.com, which originated in the UK, conducted an online survey of more than 2 884 single women in South Africa to determine what they were looking for in a man.
“A great job” was the number two trait selected, with 60.1 percent of respondents identifying it as a top five quality they look for. The number one trait was “a sense of humour”, with 63.7 percent of women listing it as a top five trait.
Only 38.8 percent of respondents listed “money” in their top five, indicating that women are looking for men who are financially stable and driven, even if they aren’t filthy rich.
“Being a sugar daddy is not just about having the moolah. It’s also about having the status, and a great job is perceived as being a status symbol,” said Ali Murray, a South African relationship consultant.
“As much as a sugar lady acknowledges that she needs to be well-maintained and groomed, and fall into the ‘trophy category’, the sugar daddy needs to understand that he, likewise, is a trophy partner too – and the trophy is his working status.”
Sugar babies are still young, attractive women, often university students, women from small towns who want to meet men from the city, or just women in financial need who want to be spoiled a bit, according to Janine Lloyd, Aluxxa. com’s South African spokeswoman.
Aluxxa.com allows men and women who are looking for today’s version of a sugar daddy-sugar baby relationship to skip the bars and relationship games, and cut to the chase.
“Trends in dating show that people want to be upfront about what they are looking for, without being judged,” said Alexander DeCoste, marketing vice-president at Aluxxa.com.
Registration is free, but men must buy a premium membership package to send private e-mails or SMSes to women.