TY - JOUR
T1 - “Becoming a Sugar Baby Will Change Your Life. Let’s Talk About How”
T2 - Sugar Dating Advice on Tumblr
AU - Ellis, Lauren D.
AU - Patterson, Callie L.
AU - Walters, Andrew Schrack
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - Sugar relationships are described most commonly as negotiated relationships, usually between an older (sugar parent) partner and younger (sugar baby) partner and in which the younger partner is provided monetary or material gifts for their participation in the relationship (e.g., companionship, friendship, consensual sexual behavior). Sugar dating crosses the boundaries of not only what is considered a traditional relationship. Previous scholarship considers the legality of sugar relationships, negotiations in sugar relationships, power dynamics associated with sugar relationships, and if a transactional nature often seen as wedded to sugar dating can be seen as a form of sex work. The current study focused on advice sharing within Tumblr communities of sugar babies, including sugar-dating specific language. Tumblr, a popular blogging website, houses a prolific subculture for sugar dating, wherein blogs provide information/advice to potential or novice sugar babies about how to navigate the sugar experience. Using conventional content analysis, we report nine themes from blog posts of sugar babies. These themes include sugar dating advice, relationship maintenance once a sugar relationship begins, and what to expect in a sugar dating relationship. We discuss how the open and transactional components of sugar dating are not wholly dissimilar from other dyadic relationships.
AB - Sugar relationships are described most commonly as negotiated relationships, usually between an older (sugar parent) partner and younger (sugar baby) partner and in which the younger partner is provided monetary or material gifts for their participation in the relationship (e.g., companionship, friendship, consensual sexual behavior). Sugar dating crosses the boundaries of not only what is considered a traditional relationship. Previous scholarship considers the legality of sugar relationships, negotiations in sugar relationships, power dynamics associated with sugar relationships, and if a transactional nature often seen as wedded to sugar dating can be seen as a form of sex work. The current study focused on advice sharing within Tumblr communities of sugar babies, including sugar-dating specific language. Tumblr, a popular blogging website, houses a prolific subculture for sugar dating, wherein blogs provide information/advice to potential or novice sugar babies about how to navigate the sugar experience. Using conventional content analysis, we report nine themes from blog posts of sugar babies. These themes include sugar dating advice, relationship maintenance once a sugar relationship begins, and what to expect in a sugar dating relationship. We discuss how the open and transactional components of sugar dating are not wholly dissimilar from other dyadic relationships.
KW - Qualitative Content Analysis
KW - Sugar Baby
KW - Sugar Culture
KW - Sugar Dating
KW - Tumblr
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143348073&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85143348073&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12119-022-10024-4
DO - 10.1007/s12119-022-10024-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85143348073
SN - 1095-5143
VL - 27
SP - 484
EP - 516
JO - Sexuality and Culture
JF - Sexuality and Culture
IS - 2
ER -