The XX Factor: What women really think.

Please Keep Your Sugar Daddies To Yourself

Samantha and Jessica: My objection to the sugar-daddy system is that I don't think it actually helps female journalists or journalism. Instead, sugar daddies have contributed to a Carrie Bradshaw-wannabe effect among women writers. Rather than serving as the means to a career goal, these men and the lifestyle they've supported become the material. And women, who are still not often enough asked to contribute content that has nothing to do with gender, aren't doing themselves any favors by writing more personal essays about marrying up or how-tos on the art of the affair.

Entry-level journalism jobs are high on gruntwork and low on both pay and respect, it’s true. And while I'm not sure how much a sugar daddy would help the respect aspect of that equation, they do help stave off being broke. So I don’t have a problem so much with the existence of sugar daddies—I just don't want to read about them.