Young women’s relationships with ‘sugar daddies’ and ‘blessers’ are predominantly transactional, a means to negotiate poverty and the economic marginalisation they experience.
of a group of young black women in which they discussed young women and girls who date older men called “sugar daddies” because they give them money, went viral on social media.
Many researchers acknowledge that there are various vulnerabilities unique to AGYW as a group which constitutes almost 40% of new HIV infections in South Africa. In addition, various studies have found that younger girls, especially virgins, are attractive to both older and younger men as there are beliefs that deem sexual acts with a virgin as a “prestigious” accomplishment.
In some cases, parents are aware of the relationship, but due to poverty, they accept the relationship because of the benefits that come with it. As a result, many programmes for the empowerment of the girl child aim to address the contextual and socioeconomic factors that make young women vulnerable to “help” from sugar daddies.