Editorial: Looking for Mr. Right Now

Thursday, June 14, 2007 | 8:03 a.m.

A N orthern Nevada businessman's Web site, which operates on the age-old premise that rich men will pay big bucks to spend time with pretty young women, places financially strapped females in the laps of luxury - literally.

A story by the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday says that SeekingArrangement.com helps people create a "Mutually Beneficial Relationship," which is defined as being " usually between an older and wealthy individual who gives a young person expensive gifts or financial assistance in return for friendship, intimacy or sex."

For sex? Aren't there laws against that sort of thing? One legal expert told Sun reporter Abigail Goldman that such arrangements aren't considered prostitution unless there is proof that money is being exchanged directly for sex.

But plenty of money is changing hands. Sarah, a 22-year-old "Sugar Baby" listed on the site, told the Sun that she has been paid $10,000 by four men since joining in April. Sarah says she is using the money to help pay the college expenses that her Nevada Millennium scholarship doesn't cover.

"Welcome to 2007," Sarah told the Sun. "This is how life is. You can accept it, or you can be left behind."

It is a sad set of choices for a beautiful young woman who is one math class away from a college degree.

Certainly, there is nothing new about "Sugar Daddies" or "Sugar Mommies" lavishing gifts and money on young women and men in exchange for companionship. But SeekingArrangement.com's brazen advertisement of what it is hawking is astonishing - even by Las Vegas adult entertainment standards.

The site's rules say photos of those looking for arrangements "must be G-rated." Judging by the number of backside shots of women in thong underpants, we should be thankful that the proprietor of the site isn't rating movies.

Certainly, all SeekingArrangement .com participants are consenting adults who know what they are willing to do and how much they are willing to pay, or be paid, for it. But that doesn't make it any less offensive - or sad.