Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur sugar dating-fenomenet anses i Stockholms Län av polis och socialtjänst som samverkar kring fenomenet, samt hur samverkansarbetet ser ut mellan myndigheterna i regionen. Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer en informant från varje myndighet. Analysen har gjorts med ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv för att förstå och förmedla informanternas beskrivningar. Teorier som användes var samverkansteori, sexuella övergrepp och trauma, skam samt utifrån ett feministiskt perspektiv. Studiens resultat visade att myndigheterna likställde sugar dating med prostitution, något som inte överensstämde med vad tidigare forskning presenterat. Tidigare forskning hävdade att sugar dating är mer som en modern relation där parterna avtalar vad som ska ingå och inte. Majoriteten av de som engagerar sig i sugar dating har varit utsatta för sexuella övergrepp, vilket kan ha lett till att de utvecklat ett självskadebeteende i att sälja sex. Resultaten visar en motstridighet till de hinder kring sekretess som tidigare forskning presenterat, i Stockholm upplevdes detta inte som något problem. En betydelsefull slutsats var att det är två myndigheter som samverkan med olika uppdrag, men målet är detsamma – att hjälpa unga tjejer och kvinnor som lever i sexuell utsatthet och befinner sig i riskfyllda miljöer. / This study aims to investigate how sugar dating is considered in Stockholm County by the police and social services that collaborate on the phenomenon, and how they operate the collaboration work in the region. The study is based on a qualitative method in terms of interviews with an informant from each authority. The analysis has been done with a hermeneutic perspective to understand and convey the informants' descriptions. Theories used were collaboration theory, sexual abuse and trauma, shame and a feminist perspective. The results of the study showed that the authorities equated sugar dating with prostitution, something that did not agree with what previous research presented. Previous research claimed that sugar dating is more like a modern relationship where the man and woman agree on what should be included and excluded. The majority of those who engage in sugar dating have been sexually abused, which may have led them to develop self-harming behavior in selling sex. The results show a contradiction to the obstacles to confidentiality that previous research has presented, in Stockholm this was not perceived as a problem. An important conclusion was that there are two authorities that collaborate with different assignments, but the goal is the same - to help young girls and women who live in sexual exposure and are in risky environments.

This thesis focuses on a specific subset of online relationships—the sugar daddy and sugar baby relationship, more specifically how a self-proclaimed sugar daddy might market themselves to potential sugar babies. The sugar daddy-sugar baby relationship is an arrangement in which a wealthier man will compensate an attractive girl, usually younger, to provide him romantic, sexual, and/or platonic companionship. This compensation tends to vary, but can include money, gifts, or simply the lavish lifestyle of being around a wealthier partner. A small, yet distinct minority among online sugar daddies consists of those who promise life-changing circumstances for their partners. Dubbed “salvation rhetoric,” this type of language targets women in more vulnerable positions, and offers to them a high-end lifestyle, the knowledge to succeed, emotional betterment, or even spiritual enlightenment. This paper seeks to answer the questions of what kinds of salvation discourses are operating within the sphere of online sugar dating, and what kinds of demographic factors may be affecting any differences in discourses.

Under 2017 ökade den mediala rapporteringen om sugardejting i Sverige i samband med att sugardejtingsajten Rich Meet Beautiful lanserades i Sverige. Sugardejting presenteras som ett nytt fenomen men vid en närmare undersökning visar det sig att sugardejting är en fråga som diskuterats och uppmärksammats i Sverige tidigare. Tidigare forskning visar att sugardejting är ett fenomen som länge förekommit i Afrika, söder om Sahara. Det är framförallt ekonomiska faktorer som lyfts fram som förklaring till varför det förekommer, vilket även observerats i studier utförda i Nordamerika. Hur fenomenet sugardejting presenteras och diskuteras i media har ännu inte uppmärksammats inom forskning. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och analysera hur fenomenet sugardejting framställs i svensk media. För att möta detta syfte har kritisk diskursanalys tillämpats, framförallt utifrån Faircloughs och Foucaults teorier. Studien baseras på svenska tidningsartiklar och medierapportering mellan mars 1994 och december 2019. Medierapporteringarna har studerats och analyserats utifrån kritisk diskursanalys med hjälp av Faircloughs tredimensionella modell och olika teman har identifierats. Det framkommer hur orden inom sugardejting används för att beskriva någon i artiklarna, eller medierapporteringar där de som sugardejtar får berätta sin historia. Detta samtidigt som det i analysen ses en ökad medierapportering i samband med en ökad problematiserande syn på sugardejting, där främst polisen och journalister har makten över diskursen. De som ger ett beskrivande perspektiv med en mer positiv bild får mindre plats i media med tiden. Den dominerande diskursen är den som framställer sugardejting som prostitution och som ett socialt problem, som grundar sig i psykisk ohälsa. / In 2017 the media coverage on sugar dating in Sweden increased as Rich Meet Beautiful launched its site in Sweden. Sugar dating is presented as a new phenomenon, but on closer examination it turns out that sugar dating is a topic that has been discussed in Sweden much earlier. Research shows that sugar dating is a phenomenon that has occurred for a long time in sub-Saharan Africa. The leading factor to why sugar dating occurs is believed to be economical aspects. This is also evident in studies conducted in North America. How the phenomenon of sugar dating is presented and discussed in the media has not yet been researched. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze how the phenomenon of sugar dating is presented in the Swedish media. In order to meet this purpose, critical discourse analysis has been applied, primarily based on Fairclough's and Foucault's ideas. The study is based on Swedish newspaper articles and other media reports between March 1994 and December 2019. These have been studied and analyzed based on critical discourse analysis using Fairclough's three-dimensional model and various themes have emerged. The result of this thesis showed how the words in sugar dating are used to describe someone. There are also articles where those who sugar date get to tell their story. This is happening at the same time as this thesis can show an increased media coverage with a problematic view on sugar dating, where mainly the police and journalists have power over the discourse. Those who provide a descriptive perspective with a more positive image get less space in the media over time. The most dominant discourse is the one presenting sugar dating as prostitution and as a social problem caused by mental illness.

Cognitive dissonance refers to a state of internal conflict, arising when two or more cognitions are inconsistent with each other. The state brings about an urge to reach consonance - and to do so, different reduction strategies can be utilized. Sugar dating constitutes a transactional form of dating that is growing in our modern, digital time, it resides in a gray area between conventional relationships and prostitution. Against the societal backdrop that enables sugar dating, this study aims at exploring if sugar daters in Sweden express cognitive dissonance and what, if anything, they do to reduce it. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews (n=24) and analyzed through hypothetical-deductive thematic analysis. Results show that a majority of the sample expressed cognitive dissonance regarding their sugar dating. Several reduction strategies emerged, which could be categorized in line with earlier research on cognitive dissonance. This study provides a tool for understanding incomprehensible actions via knowledge on human behavior. For further research we suggest qualitative research exploring the psychological consequences of moving in the intimacy/transaction gray area, possible links between dissonance and clinical dissociation, and more in-depth exploration of the emotional labor discussed by sugar babes.

Hallengren, L. Sugardaddies – en kvalitativ studie om erfarenheter av sugardating. Examensarbete i sexologi 30 högskolepoäng. Malmö Universitet: Fakulteten för Hälsa och Samhälle, institutionen för socialt arbete, sexologi, 2019. Syftet med studien är att undersöka mäns erfarenheter av sugardating i rollen som sugardaddy. Mer specifikt syftar studien till att belysa deras syn på sugardating i relation till kön och makt. Materialinsamlingen består av fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med män som har erfarenhet av sugardating i form av att vara sugardaddy. Studien bygger på kvalitativ metod och det insamlade materialet har transkriberats, tematiserats och analyserats. Det teoretiska ramverket tar sin utgångspunkt i postmodernismen och det senmoderna samhällets snabbt föränderliga karaktär med fokus på intimitet och kommers. Det finns ingen överensstämmande samhällelig bild av fenomenet sugardating och beskrivningarna av det går isär. Medan vissa aktörer menar att det handlar om prostitution menar andra att det bör definieras som relation och den sammantagna bilden positionerar sugardating i gråzonen mellan dessa två. På gråzonsskalan mellan relation och prostitution så kan vi inom sugardating med största sannolikhet hitta både socialt accepterade former av det och samhälleligt kriminaliserade former av det. De huvudsakliga resultaten i denna studie visar på att det hos informanterna finns en ambition att inom sugardatingkonceptet skapa långvariga relationer som bygger på ömsesidighet och frivillighet där båda parter får ut vad de önskar av relationen. Det handlar om att ha en relation där förutsättningarna är överenskomna sedan innan och där parterna är aktiva i förhandlingen för att få sina individuella önskemål tillgodosedda. För några handlar det om att ha en okomplicerad relation där man kan lägga energi på de positiva aspekterna av att vara med en annan människa, för någon annan handlar det om att få vara sexuellt och relationellt med personer som är yngre än en själv. Oavsett anledning till att engagera sig i sugardatingrelationer så förhåller sig informanterna till samhälleliga normer i hur de förstår och reflekterar kring sina erfarenheter. De strukturella förutsättningarna och samhällets normer påverkar hur informanterna förstår sina erfarenheter på individuell, relationell och kontextuell nivå. / Hallengren, L. Sugardaddies – a qualitative study on experiences of sugardating. Master in sexology 30 hp. Malmö University: Faculty of health and society, Department of Social science: Sexology, 2019. The purpose of the study is to investigate men's experiences of sugar dating in the role of sugar daddy. More specifically, the study aims to shed light on their views on sugar dating in relation to gender and power. The material collection consists of five semi-structured interviews with men who have experience of sugar dating in the role of being a sugar daddy. The study is based on qualitative method and the collected material has been thematised and analyzed. The theoretical framework is based on postmodernism and the rapidly changing nature of late modern society with focus on intimacy and commerce. There is no consistent social picture of the phenomenon sugar dating and the descriptions of it are disintegrating. While some actors think it is about prostitution, others think it should be defined as a relationship and the overall picture positions sugar dating in the gray zone between these two. Within this gray zone between relationship and prostitution, we can most likely find both socially accepted forms of sugar dating and criminalized forms of it. The main results of this study show that there is an ambition among the informants to create long-term consensual and unforced relationships, in which both parties get what they want from the relationship. It is about having a relationship where the conditions have been agreed upon before and where the parties are active in the negotiation in order to fulfill their individual wishes. For some, it's about having an uncomplicated relationship where you can put energy on the positive aspects of being with another person, for someone else it's about being sexual and relational with people younger than yourself. Whatever the reason for engaging in sugary dating relationships, informants relate to societal norms in how they understand and reflect on their experiences. The structural conditions and societal norms influence how informants understand their experiences on an individual, relational and contextual level.

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This project sheds light on men's choice in the face of threats to their masculinity: to compensate to appear more masculine or to revise their definitions of manhood. Research has demonstrated that men overcompensate in their displays of masculinities when faced with challenges to their dominant status. However, not all men pursue dominant displays of masculinity through heterosexuality: Older men (85+) may abandon ideals of masculinity tied to sexual dominance as they once did in middle age. This dissertation weaves together men's three distinct pursuits of dominant manhood: approval of violence against women (AVAW), changes to sexual function in old age (i.e., flaccidity or erectile dysfunction), and sugar dating (i.e., dating between younger women and an older man, in which money is exchanged for intimacy). I show that men's use of compensatory heterosexuality offers them a way to do gender when confronted with threatened masculinity in the form(s) of subordination to women, sexual dysfunction, and older age. In each project, men rely on displays of heterosexual dominance and objectification of women as a compensatory means to do masculinity. However, their reliance on heterosexuality is subject to change under such conditions as older age, which can lead to revisions of manhood. / Doctor of Philosophy / This project sheds light on men's choices in the face of gender threats: to compensate to appear more masculine or to revise or change their definitions of manhood. Research has demonstrated that men overdo their displays of masculinity when faced with challenges. However, not all men do this: Older men (85+) may move away from a masculinity tied to sexual displays as they once did in middle age. This dissertation weaves together three displays of masculinity: approval of violence against women (AVAW), changes to sexual function in old age (i.e., flaccidity or erectile dysfunction), and sugar dating (i.e., dating between a younger woman and an older man in which money is exchanged for emotional and physical relationships). These avenues offer men a way to perform their masculinities when confronted with threats in the form(s) of subordination to women (i.e., women in power over you), sexual dysfunction, and older age. In each project, men rely on displays of sexual dominance and objectification of women to perform masculinity (when compensating). However, their reliance on these displays is subject to change under certain conditions (when revising manhood).

L’image positive du sugar dating sur les médias sociaux suscite des inquiétudes : plusieurs femmes pourraient y adhérer avec des attentes qui ne reflètent pas la réalité. Néanmoins, la stigmatisation associée à cette pratique les incite ensuite à cacher leurs activités, augmentant leur vulnérabilité face à la victimisation et compliquant l’étude de cette population. Devant ce défi, des chercheurs se sont penchés sur l’analyse des sites de rencontre. Or, leurs approches restent souvent superficielles, se limitant à l’étude de profil ou la classification des arrangements. En dépit de quelques recherches exploratoires, l’expérience des sugar babies reste peu étudiée et plusieurs aspects demeurent méconnus. Dans ce contexte, ce mémoire vise approfondir la compréhension de l’expérience des sugar babies dans le monde du sugar dating. Guidée par une perspective de criminologie féministe, cette étude présuppose l’influence du système de genre sur le choix de partenaire et sur la dynamique de ces relations. Par une approche qualitative, nous cherchons à comprendre leurs motivations, le déroulement de leurs relations et leurs victimisations. Afin de pallier les difficultés de recrutement, une analyse de contenu de 381 fils de discussion et leurs 3 978 commentaires issus d’un forum populaire a été menée avec la méthode systématique de Krippendorff. En effet, face à la stigmatisation, les forums en ligne sont devenus des espaces où les sugar babies échangent sur leurs expériences, partagent des conseils et trouvent du soutien. Ainsi, nous avons pu accéder à leurs expériences subjectives, offrant ainsi une exploration approfondie et nuancée de leurs réalités. Leurs témoignages révèlent des motivations variées : financières, mentorales, relationnelles, et la quête de sensations fortes. Elles décrivent également la progression de leurs relations, qui débute par une recherche de partenaires en ligne, suivi d’une première rencontre où l’arrangement est négocié. Le deuxième rendez-vous est consacré à vérifier leur compatibilité sexuelle. Si celle-ci est concluante, l’arrangement se poursuit. Leur expérience est ponctuée de divers risques de victimisation : sexuels, économiques, psychologiques, physiques et secondaires. Afin de mieux cerner la complexité du sugar dating, nous proposons une réflexion qui s’articule autour de quatre axes : interdépendances, dynamique de pouvoir, normes et authenticité. / The positive portrayal of sugar dating on social media raises concerns: many women might be drawn to it with expectations that don’t align with reality. Nonetheless, the stigma attached to this practice often prompts them to conceal their activities, heightening their vulnerability to victimization and making the study of this population challenging. Faced with this challenge, researchers have delved into the analysis of dating websites. Yet, their approaches are frequently superficial, limited to profiling or categorizing arrangements. Despite a few exploratory studies, the experience of sugar babies remains under-researched, and many facets are still unknown. In this context, this thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of sugar babies’ experiences in the world of sugar dating. Guided by a feminist criminology perspective, this study assumes that the gender system influences partner choice and the dynamics of these relationships. Employing a qualitative approach, we aim to understand their motivations, the evolution of their relationships, and their experiences with victimization. To circumvent recruitment challenges, we conducted a content analysis of 381 discussion threads and their 3,978 comments from a popular forum using Krippendorff’s systematic method. Indeed, given the stigma, online forums have emerged as spaces where sugar babies discuss their experiences, share advice, and seek support. This allowed us to tap into their subjective experiences, offering a comprehensive and nuanced exploration of their realities. Their testimonies reveal a range of motivations: financial, mentoring, relational, and thrills. They also describe the progression of their relationships, starting with an online partner search, followed by an initial meeting where the arrangement is negotiated. The second meeting is dedicated to verifying sexual compatibility. If so, the arrangement continues. Their experience is marked by various victimization risks: sexual, economic, psychological, physical, and secondary. To better grasp the subtleties of sugar dating, we propose a reflection centred around four axes: interdependencies, power dynamics, norms, and authenticity.