Re: Sugar Parents and Children

1

If we're going to troll about women's bodies, let's go all in.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 1:58 PM
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2

She's also changing her name to Eccentrica Gallumbits.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:00 PM
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3

What's the minimum cost of directly financing all four years of college education plus expenses plus whatever else? It's got to be close to $100k total at an absolute minimum, right, probably on the order of $50k or more a year? How many people can we be talking about? You have to (a) have the income (b) want to do this (c) have a means of shielding expenditures like that from your spouse/anybody else interested. I mean I'm not saying it's nobody, we've all been to the bar at the Peninsula Hotel and seen what goes down, but it's got to be a pretty limited clientele.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:07 PM
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4

Triops has got one that looks up, and one that looks around. And one to keep an eye on the other pair of guys.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:07 PM
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5

You didn't read the article, did you, Mr. Halford?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:08 PM
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6

I don't think they're possibly covering tuition. I think they're covering lavish gifts. I mostly got this idea because the ultimate sweet set-up is to get a credit card, and Daddy isn't going to want to see Tuition to Yale appear on that.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:09 PM
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7

3: First, of course, I think you're absolutely right about the very limited number of people, if any, who are actually doing this. This is a trend in exactly the same sense the House and Garden reporting in the Times is about ordinary New Yorkers.

But to the extent that it's happening in reality, this would be money that didn't show up on financial aid forms, so impecunious college student X wouldn't be paying full freight out of what her 'employer' was paying her, but just the part financial aid didn't cover.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:11 PM
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8

I swear this article gets published every three years.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:12 PM
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9

5 -- I just skimmed it in under a minute, but I think said that the website has 2.3 million"babies" signed up (which sure seems improbable, and man o man is that term gross -- you know something really not sexy? A: babies) and that they target men who earn more than $5M/year. Which isn't nobody but not a huge population either, especially when you consider points (b) and (c).


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:13 PM
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10

I'd bet many of them make only $4.5 million.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:15 PM
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11

I mean at that level of income and ability to conceal expenses and your behavior why not just get an ordinary mistress? Who, sure, you have to take on vacations and to fancy meals or whatever but without the underlying ongoing huge financial arrangement and commitment. I think this is either all total nonsense or it's just purely short-term hooking (maybe with regular customers, but still pretty direct fee-for-service with limited ongoing relationship) in 95% of cases.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:17 PM
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12

How much does an ordinary mistress cost? I'd think they expect more than dinner and trip if you're rich and old.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:19 PM
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13

Someone must have called this the Uber for "arrangements" by now.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:19 PM
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14

Is this not just a sub genre of the "rainbow party" style of apocryphal journalism?

PARENTS... if you aren't covering all your daughter's bills at college... SHE MAY BE A PROSTITUTE


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:20 PM
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15

it's just purely short-term hooking (maybe with regular customers, but still pretty direct fee-for-service with limited ongoing relationship) in 95% of cases

I thought that was supposed to be obvious.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:25 PM
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16

My guess is that the site is primarily a scam to get men to part with the $1200 initiation fee, and that they planted the article to enhance the scam.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:27 PM
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17

That article is focusing on this high-end site, but, this being America, these arrangements run the gamut, with all the attendant class-based insecurities, inequalities and risks:

http://fakesugardaddiesexposed.wordpress.com/


Posted by: Criminally Bulgur | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:34 PM
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18

I was hoping for a photo of a sugar daddy climbing the Holocaust Memorial.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 2:38 PM
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19

4: Man, now you have that song in my head.


Posted by: Klug | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 3:16 PM
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20

17: one of the websites mentioned there had a billboard truck next to the M25 in Essex for years saying it was "where ATTRACTIVE and SUCCESSFUL people meet". After a while it gained a message saying "CONGRATULATIONS COLIN AND SUZANNE - WEDDING OF THE YEAR". It kept that for a couple of years too.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 3:20 PM
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21

Who actually has a mistress?

It seemed like the way it worked was that nobody was paying full tuition for anyone. But that they had a small-ish number if regulars with some small level of commitment.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 3:35 PM
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22

18: Me too.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 3:40 PM
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23

Who actually has a mistress?

Republican members of Congress, various plutocrats, and Scott Baio.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 3:40 PM
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24

I think Halford just means why not have an affair. Which attests to remarkable lack of reading comprehension even for a zippy scan, but the man should be cut some slack as this is clearly the cris de coeur of a parent of a very young baby: "man o man is that term gross -- you know something really not sexy? A: babies)", so presumably he's got some impairment of brain function going on from lack of sleep and whatnot.

Pretty obviously from the article (skimmed) the impediments to just having an affair are all bound up in power issues, a chasm were normal social skills would typically be found and fear of emotional equals. "but if they'd only think of the savings!" kind of misses the mark.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:08 PM
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25

I am surprised, these years later, to get comment 2 without having to think about it.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:11 PM
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26

The OP suggestion seemed to be that there were significant numbers of men paying out for a long term deal in which they pay college women's expenses and tuition over a long period of time in exchange for sex. Actually reading the article at more than a skim makes it clear that there's nothing more going on than ordinary short-term prostitution.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:16 PM
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27

The opening anecdote of the article caused me to spend an inordinately long amount of time puzzling over train schedules, driving times, and restaurant opening hours. None of it makes any sense.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:36 PM
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28

Love is complicated.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:38 PM
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29

It could have been a weekend instead of a Tuesday; then the Dinky might not have been running after 11. But can you really get dinner in a fancy restaurant in New York starting at ~1 AM?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:40 PM
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30

I was told it never slept.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:43 PM
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31

If you can make it there, you can do a bank manager. New York, New York.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:45 PM
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32

31 worthy of A Loos herself. Is Moby really a diminutive, wise-cracking, closeted lesbian, right wing author of light fiction and screenplays?!??!!!


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:53 PM
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33

um, duh


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:56 PM
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34

I don't know who that is.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:56 PM
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35

Good point, neb, good point.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:57 PM
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36

BTW, Moby,and I say this affectionately, the bangs were ill-advised from about age 70 onwards.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 4:58 PM
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37

Her first husband was John Emerson. OMG


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 5:03 PM
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38

And what a marriage! I particularly liked the placebo operations. I know son world class hypochondriacs, but he was in the intergalactic leagues.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 5:06 PM
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39

||

My collaborator wrote a figure caption that refers to the "left hand", "right hand" and "center hand" panels of an image. I'm working with mutants!

|>


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 5:38 PM
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40

One of the many things this blog has taught me is that the correct term is "gripping hand".


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 5:48 PM
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41

1 to 39.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 6:38 PM
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42

32: Florence King?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 7:08 PM
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43

||

More IRS scams.

|>


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 7:47 PM
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44

Florence Henderson.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 8:18 PM
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45

Far be it from me to imply anything untoward about any of our commenters, all of whom I esteem highly, but it does not surprise me at all that Knecht is the one who sent this in.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:25 PM
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46

I didn't know you worked for LinkedIn, neb.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:30 PM
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47

Whoever pays the bills, man.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:33 PM
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48

Whoever, whatever. Whatever.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:33 PM
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49

Surely there are some humans involved in the management of LinkedIn.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:36 PM
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50

I meant to imply that I do whatever pays the bills, though, such as for example working for LinkedIn.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:36 PM
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51

But I suppose you would know better than me the nature of your unfeeling algorithmic overlords.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:37 PM
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52

Unfeeling. Algorithmic.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:38 PM
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53

So it's that time of day/night again, huh.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:39 PM
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54

50: As opposed to the sugar babies in the OP, who do indeed do whoever pays the bills.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:39 PM
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55

53: Seems like it.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:40 PM
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56

I probably won't stay up very late tonight though, since I'm exhausted. I got up at 5 to catch a flight, then did a bunch of other stuff.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:45 PM
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57

I hope you had a good day despite those trials.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:51 PM
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58

That probably sounded facetious, but it was sincerely meant.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 9:53 PM
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59

Thanks, I did.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:01 PM
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60

In fact the meeting I presented at this morning went very well, which was especially good because it was the thing I was most nervous about during this whole trip. I'm presenting a couple more times during this conference, but those are much less high-stakes and nervewracking than this one.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:31 PM
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61

|| Dave Rawlins plays the shit out of Cortez the Killer. |>


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:50 PM
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62

60: Did you perform a live fracking?


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:54 PM
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63

Were the women all beautiful?


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:58 PM
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64

Nah, we have plenty of regular gas up here and don't need to frack.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 10:58 PM
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65

63: Does it matter?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:01 PM
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66

Anyway, the main thing that made it nervewracking was that the audience contained several state legislators, some of whom had been directly involved in establishing the programs I was reporting on. They were happy with my presentation, though, so it was all good.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:03 PM
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67

And at least I didn't say "fuck it, I quit" on live TV.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:08 PM
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68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxPTQDP2bRQ

Rawlings with a G.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:10 PM
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69

They played this tonight too. A Missoula audience does not sit quietly and listen like these folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Def5J2wQP9M


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:18 PM
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70

I was imagining something like: "We just can't compete with new sources of fuels. Frack it, I quit."


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:39 PM
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71

Or possibly a reference to a mink. Although I guess Alaskan politicians save that for Congress.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 09-22-14 11:41 PM
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72

That woman was a true American hero. First tier member of lazy Valhalla when she dies.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 2:30 AM
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73

My guess is that the site is primarily a scam to get men to part with the $1200 initiation fee, and that they planted the article to enhance the scam

Agree completely.

The ease with which one can plant a story with a "journalist" is really shocking.

We should make up a story and have someone pitch it to huffington post or buzzfeeed.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 7:48 AM
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74

The thing that got me about the original article was the reference to "post sex apartment decorating" -- "God, darling, I just love to bury my face in your swatch!"


Posted by: Nworb Werdna | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 7:57 AM
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75

It might actually be a cheap way to get an up and coming decorator.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 7:59 AM
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76

That actually reminded me of Rosie O'Donnell, in some idiotic movie where she's an undercover cop in a BDSM resort, saying to someone who's offering to lick her boots or similar, "You want to fulfill my fantasy? Paint my house!"


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:02 AM
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77

76: That's an old Rodney Dangerfield joke.

(maybe he didn't make it up either)


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:06 AM
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78

Once one has documentary evidence that an older, wealthy, married man has been having an affair with you, it should be fairly easy to persuade him to pay for your college education.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:12 AM
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79

A college education is a lot of money. I'd generally expect the Duke of Wellington's reaction.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:13 AM
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80

The fact that this is the first thing that entered my mind probably says something worrying about my mental state, possibly along the lines of that mythical diagnostic test with the story about the woman who met her dream man at a funeral.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:14 AM
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81

I'd generally expect the Duke of Wellington's reaction.

"Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let us see who can pound the longest."


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:15 AM
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82

Well, you blackmail a number of rich idiots and get each of them to chip in.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:16 AM
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83

Plus, if these rich idiots are married, they stand to lose 50% of their net worth when their wives divorce them for adultery. That's probably more than a college education.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:17 AM
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84

Except they are prob on their second wives and have prenups.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:21 AM
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85

A relatively common provision in prenups is "If i can convince a hot college girl to have sex with me, you cannot object."


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:22 AM
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86

In contrast to those who think the trend piece aspect of this is bunk, my completely anecdotal sense is that there really is an upward tick over the last 10 years of college-educated women doing sex work in their 20s. I can't find any meaningful statistics, though.


Posted by: Criminally Bulgur | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:30 AM
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87

Krugman has covered this and thinks you might be right about that.

Yes, it's prurient, and I'm probably a dirty old man for even linking to it -- although what really caught my eye was just how closely reality echoes Woody Allen's (speaking of dirty old men) story "The Whore of Mensa".

But there is some economics here too. Thomas Piketty tells us that we're living in a new Belle Epoque -- and he's right, in some ways contemporary society feels more like that era than the cruder, more hypocritical American Gilded Age -- and one thing extreme inequality brings is, yes, a courtesan class.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:37 AM
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88

Sorry, blockquote fail, apart from the first line it's all Krugman, baby.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:45 AM
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89

85: Seriously? In the fine print? The future wife doesn't object? Add a "cougar clause" about a hot college boy?


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:50 AM
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90

I'd generally expect the Duke of Wellington's reaction.

Help out us ignorant yokels?


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:52 AM
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91

There was a law and order episode with a prenup where a certain amount was allocated, but the other spouse got nothing in the event of adultery.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:53 AM
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92

90: This.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 8:55 AM
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93

Many prenups have complete waivers of spousal support, waivers of claim against retirement accounts or other things earned from one's employment during the marriage.

There isn't a tremendous consequence to having a college-aged mistress.

Even without a prenup, in Va, adultery only really serves to bar one spouse from receiving spousal support. If you are the higher wage earner, committing adultery does not have a tremendous financial consequence.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 9:02 AM
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94

Virginia is for lovers, IYKWIMAITYD.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 9:05 AM
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95

93: depends on where you choose to get divorced. IIRC English courts tend to ignore prenups.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 9:06 AM
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96

90: "Publish and be damned."


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 12:26 PM
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97
What did her memoirs reveal about the Duke? He was, she wrote, her 'faithful lover, whose love survived six winters'. He was 'my own Wellington, who sighed over me and groaned over me by the hour, talked of my wonderful beauty, ran after me . . .' and he was 'my constant visitor', a 'modern Bluebeard', 'my old beau'.

modern Bluebeard???


Posted by: L. | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 12:40 PM
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98

The tell-all aristocrat blackmail is the plot of at least two Georgette Heyer novels, but she didn't use the Bluebeard line.


Posted by: L. | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 12:42 PM
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99

I read "Bluebeard" as prone to saying things like "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Keeping secrets.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 12:43 PM
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100

Groaning for more than an hour before Viagra is pretty impressive.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 09-23-14 12:50 PM
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101

"It was a close thing - I think the closest thing I ever saw in my life, by God! - I don't think it would have done if I had not been there."


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 09-24-14 1:58 AM
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