Journalists Investigate Finland’s Sugar Dating Market

The Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) has been looking into sugar dating, a niche which has seen its popularity increasing exponentially in Finland.

The number of Finnish users on SugarDaters has increased from 2,500 to 18,000 in the past year, while RichMeetBeautiful is expecting to soon pass the 10,000 member mark in the Scandinavian country.

Although sugar dating is advertised as being when an older person pays to date someone younger, Yle describes it as “open prostitution”.

This is because many of the female sugar babies who were interviewed as part of the investigation admitted to accepting cash in exchange for sexual favours.

Many of the sugar babies consider it a legitimate profession or a way to bring in extra income. They told the journalists that they can earn as much as €1,200 per month.

According to Sputnik News, researcher Lena Gunnarsson explained to Yle: “Some see it as a way of making prostitution more attractive to the middle class, as if to make it look more elegant. It’s not so damning to do sex work anymore if you’re a neat middle class girl. Also, there are growing income differences fuelling it.”

Paying for sex is legal in Finland unless it involves pimping, underage sex or human trafficking. Finnish police are currently investigating a suspected rape case relating to sugar dating that involves a 17-year-old girl.

Sugarbook CEO Darren Chan recently spoke to GDI and asserted that the activity on his platform is completely legal. He says that the company constantly works to ensure the safety of its members.

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