This article unfolds the dynamics of the lived experiences of young women who provide sex and intimacy to men through compensated dating (CD), often regarded as a form of adolescent prostitution. Inspired by intersectionality and rational choice theory, this article argues that the experiences of female CD providers are complex and varied, thus should not be simplified into dichotomous discussions of empowerment versus exploitation. Drawing from 19 in-depth interviews with female CD providers, eight types of CD experiences are identified based on three interrelated components: sexual agency, sexual pleasure, and financial gain.
AbellP (2000) Sociological theory and rational choice theory. In: TurnerBS (ed) The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 223–244.
2.
BernsteinE (2007) Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
3.
BjønnessJBræmerMHGroesC (2023) Compensated Dating in Denmark: Report from the Research-And Development Project. Aarhus: Sugardating among marginalized young people’. Aarhus Universitet.
4.
BrowneJMinichielloV (1995) The social meanings behind male sex work: Implications for sexual interactions. British Journal of Sociology46(4): 598–622.
5.
CampbellR (1998) Invisible men: Making visible male clients of female prostitues in Merseyside. Prostitution: On Whores, Hustlers and Johns. New York: Prometheus Books, 135–154.
6.
ChapkisW (1997) Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor. New York, NY: Routledge.
7.
CheungCKJiaXLiJCM, et al. (2016) Engaging adolescent girls in transactional sex through compensated dating. Journal of Adolescence52: 124–134.
8.
ChuCSK (2018) Compensated Dating: Buying and Selling Sex in Cyberspace. Singapore: Springer.
9.
ChuCSK (2023) Commercial sex or romance? Men’s sexual scripts in compensated dating. Deviant Behavior45(3): 394–409.
10.
ChuCSKLaidlerKJ (2016) Becoming a male client of compensated dating. Deviant Behavior37(1): 47–65.
11.
ColemanJS (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
12.
CrenshawK (2013) Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. In: MaschkeK (ed) Feminist Legal Theories. New York: Routledge, 23–51.
GunnarssonLStridS (2021) Varieties of sugar dating in Sweden: content, compensation, motivations. Social Problems70(4): 1044–1062.
15.
HoJCJ (2000) Self-empowerment and ‘professionalism’: conversations with Taiwanese sex workers. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies1(2): 283–299.
16.
HoJ (2003) From spice girls to enjo kosai: formations of teenage girls’ sexualities in Taiwan. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies4(2): 325–336.
17.
HochschildAR (2015) The managed heart. In: WhartonA (ed) Working in America. New York: Routledge, 29–36.
18.
KinsellaS (2013) Schoolgirls, Money and Rebellion in Japan. London: Routledge.
19.
KongMH (2003) Material girls: sexual perceptions of Korean teenage girls who have experienced ‘compensated dates’. Asian Journal of Women's Studies9(2): 67–93.
20.
LamOW (2003) Why did enjo kosai anchor in Taiwan but not in Hong Kong? Or the convergence of ‘enjo’ and ‘kosai’ in teenage sex work. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies4(2): 353–363.
21.
LeeTYShekDTL (2013) Compensated dating in Hong Kong: prevalence, psychosocial correlates, and relationships with other risky behaviors. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology26(3): S42–S48.
22.
LiJCCheungCKJiaCX, et al. (2018) Narratives of compensated dating of girls in Hong Kong using routine activity theory: results of a focus group study of guardians. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology62(2): 360–382.
23.
LiamputtongP (2020) Qualitative Research Methods. Australia: Oxford University Press.
24.
MarxK (2023) Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. In: LonghoferWWinchesterD (eds) Social Theory Re-wired. New York: Routledge, 142–147.
25.
MotylJ (2013) Trading sex for college tuition: How sugar daddy dating sites may be sugar coating prostitution. Dick. L. REV.117: 927.
26.
MulveyL (2013) Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In: PenleyC (ed) Feminism and Film Theory. New York: Routledge, 57–68.
27.
PengYW (2007) Buying sex: Domination and difference in the discourses of Taiwanese Piao-Ke. Men and Masculinities9(3): 315–336.
28.
RecioPR (2022) ‘I have bills to pay!’ Sugar dating in British higher education institutions. Gender and Education34(5): 545–560.
29.
SakalukJKToddLMMilhausenR, et al. (2014) Dominant heterosexual sexual scripts in emerging adulthood: conceptualization and measurement. The Journal of Sex Research51(5): 516–531.
30.
SanchezDTKieferAK (2007) Body concerns in and out of the bedroom: implications for sexual pleasure and problems. Archives of Sexual Behavior36: 808–820.
31.
SandersT (2005) ‘It's just acting’: sex workers’ strategies for capitalizing on sexuality. Gender, Work and Organization12(4): 319–342.
32.
SandersT (2008) Paying for Pleasure: Men Who Buy Sex. London: Routledge.
33.
ScullMT (2020) ‘It’s its own thing’: a typology of interpersonal sugar relationship scripts. Sociological Perspectives63(1): 135–158.
34.
SelikowTAMbulaheniT (2013) ‘I do love him but at the same time I can't eat love’: sugar daddy relationships for conspicuous consumption amongst urban university students in South Africa. Agenda27(2): 86–98.
35.
ShaverF (2005) Sex work research: methodological and ethical challenges. Journal of Interpersonal Violence20(3): 296–319.
36.
SongJMorashM (2016) Materialistic desires or childhood adversities as explanations for girls’ trading sex for benefits. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology60(1): 62–81.
37.
StoebenauKHeiseLWamoyiJ, et al. (2016) Revisiting the understanding of ‘transactional sex’ in sub-Saharan Africa: a review and synthesis of the literature. Social Science & Medicine168: 186–197.
38.
StruyfP (2022) To report or not to report? A systematic review of sex workers’ willingness to report violence and victimization to police. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse24(5): 3065–3077.
39.
SuppiahPCKaurS (2018) Transnational sex workers in Malaysia: methodological challenges in data collection. Journal of Modern Languages28: 120–143.
40.
SwaderCSVorobevaID (2015) Receiving gifts for sex in Moscow, Kyiv, and Minsk: A compesated dating survey. Sexuality & Culture19(2): 321–348.
41.
ToskaECluverLDBoyesM, et al. (2015) From ‘sugar daddies’ to ‘sugar babies’: exploring a pathway among age-disparate sexual relationships, condom use and adolescent pregnancy in South Africa. Sexual Health12(1): 59–66.
42.
UenoC (2003) Self-determination on sexuality? Commercialization of sex among teenage girls in Japan. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies4(2): 317–324.
43.
VolpeEMHardieTLCerulliC, et al. (2013) What’s age got to do with it? Partner age difference, power, intimate partner violence, and sexual risk in urban adolescents. Journal of Interpersonal Violence28(10): 2068–2087.
44.
WakabayashiT (2003) Enjokosai in Japan: rethinking the dual image of prostitutes in Japanese and American law. UCLA Women's Law Journal13: 143.
45.
WeitzerR (2009) Sex work: types and paradigms. In: WeitzerR (ed). Sex for Sale. London: Routledge, 3–42.
