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Q&A: MSU student talks misconceptions, benefits of having a sugar daddy

February 13, 2020
An illustration.
An illustration.

Psychology senior Caitlyn has paid her way through college with the help of her sugar daddy — an older man she met online her freshman year at Michigan State with whom she's had an online-only relationship with for four years. At one point, she was making $1,000 a week. 

Caitlyn — whose name was changed to avoid judgement from relatives and future employers — discussed the benefits, challenges and misconceptions of having a sugar daddy as well as partaking in the social media trend of selling “feet pics.” She also offered advice to other students interested in trying it, too.

What made you want to find a sugar daddy? 

Initially, I did it as kind of a joke. I didn’t realize how much money you could actually make finding a sugar daddy and going into selling pictures or different fetish industries. So I set up an account as a joke on this website called Pantydeal.com my freshman year in college, and within a couple hours, I had made $100. So, I figured that I would just go with it. And I actually met my sugar daddy that first night on Pantydeal.

So this site that you started off on — your intention wasn’t to find a sugar daddy there, you just happened to find one? 

So I actually first got the idea when I was watching “Orange is the New Black” my freshman year, and I saw that they were selling their underwear for huge amounts of money, and I was wondering if that was actually a thing. So I went online, did some research and I found that a bunch of people were making money off this and I thought, might as well try. I went on that website just hoping to see if I could make $5, $10, $15 at most — and I ended up finding a sugar daddy who helped me pay for the rest of my college. I’ve been communicating with the same sugar daddy for the past four years now. 

It’s definitely been a really cool relationship and one that’s led me to stay in college and support myself through college.

How much money do you make from this in an average month, for example? 

It really depends on how much you put into it. The first year I was doing this, I was definitely communicating with him every day so I was making the most amount of money. I think I was making at one point $1,000 a week. And then, I kind of started spending really crazily because I was making a ton of money when I should’ve been saving it. ... Now, I try not to do it as often, and I work other jobs too that take up a lot of my time. 

Having a sugar daddy is actually a lot of work. A lot of people think that it’s easy, but it’s a lot of communication — it’s a relationship you have to maintain. So now, I only do it about once a month or once every two months so I only make maybe $200 a month or less.

What are some of the big misconceptions about having a sugar daddy?

A lot of people think it’s really easy to find a sugar daddy, but I think I was really lucky meeting (him) the first night. I’ve run into tons of people who’ve tried to scam me or just wanted to dirty talk online and never pay me or steal my identity information, and it can be really frustrating. 

Also, there’s a lot of stigma to it. I feel like when I bring it up around girls, they’re a lot more accepting of it and a lot of them start doing it themselves after I’ve told them about it. But guys can be really judgmental with it — and sometimes people look at me differently or call me a slut or a whore for it. So yeah, there’s a lot of stigma around it for sure. But I see it as a really practical way to put myself through college and pay my bills.

Could you talk more about your relationship with this person, since you have had one sugar daddy for the last four years? 

The reason I kept him and I don’t look for a different sugar daddy is because we were able to form a really professional relationship almost because he didn’t ever make me feel threatened. Our relationship is strictly online, and he never made me feel like he was going to want to meet up with me in person or want to cross any of my boundaries or find out where I live or anything like that. It felt like a safe relationship for me.

It seems on social media that selling feet pics for money is a joke, but I’ve heard that it’s not easy. 

Yeah, I sell feet pics to him too, sometimes. ... He has me paint my nails different colors, put on different sandals or shoes. I’ve sold him socks before, shoes before — really, there’s a market for anything out there on the internet. 

I think the biggest misconception is that you’re going to find someone really easily to sell pictures of your feet to, but so many people ... will scam you and get you to send free pictures and never pay you or send you fake payment. ... A lot of my friends and I personally went into this kind of naive and thinking it’s going to be easy to do this, but it’s not.

What’s your advice to other students who are interested in being sugar babies or selling feet pics to make some extra cash? 

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I would say go for it. Start off on one of these websites that are reputable like Pantydeal ... or any of the big websites for fetish communities. Put yourself out there. Be wary of people trying to get you to send stuff without sending payment to you. And just know that there is a stigma to it, but you gotta do what you gotta do to support yourself. You should ignore the stigma and focus on what’s best for you.

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