Great article, Witt! I found it quite balanced and a clear-eyed look at sugaring (and not at all as accusatory as a few other readers seem to have taken it).

I met a former SB of mine when she was only 19 and a student. She had asked her current SD to find another guy (me, as it turned out) to experience an MFM threesome. She was a surprise: a sexual force of nature, but also endlessly sweet and nurturing, and she both looked and acted like a woman of greater years. We took an instant liking to one another. Despite this I distinctly remember the mental gymnastics I performed when she reached out months afterwards wanting to connect again. I knew the brain science that said she was likely not yet an adult. I knew the power imbalance could set us both up for an unhealthy situation, despite best intentions. We even talked about it together. But ultimately I knew she needed the financial help ("better me than someone less caring", I rationalized), and I craved her trustworthy intimacy. So we continued for over two years together. It wasn't until I finally admitted everything to my ex-wife that we broke it off. Looking back now, I'm pretty sure I learned as much from her as she did from me.

But all of the warnings you share I think are warranted, and are solid considerations for a younger woman contemplating sugar dating. I feel like she and I dodged bullets to make it work, and it was a fortunate connection that defied the odds. I'm not interested in ever trying to repeat a relationship with such gaps in age and power. I think i have a greater awareness now of the potential risk to cause damage than I did then. But wow, was it amazing.