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Why Sugar Daddies are Needed
By Gloria Diaz
Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!
Fort Wayne Reader
2010-07-04
After my financial meltdown in 2008, I realized it’s expensive being a woman. It’s bad enough we make 77 cents to each dollar a man earns, but nearly everything we buy costs more. I say “nearly everything” because some things aren’t gender specific: DVD players, picture frames, notepads, and things like that. But if a product is marketed towards a woman, look out. Women’s jeans cost more than men’s jeans, women’s shoes cost more than men’s shoes, and so forth.
Last October, I broke down and bought a copy of O ($4.50). The magazine’s creative director gives advice on leggings, and on the same page are three outfits and four jackets. The cheapest coat was $189. The outfits were even worse: a $995 pair of leather pants and a $328 cardigan. $1300 for an outfit, and they didn’t even list how much the boots and belt cost. For $1300, I could take that to the thrifts and outfit myself for the next 10 years, probably.
Okay, so O is not targeted at women like me who work three jobs and wash out plastic sandwich baggies and hang a few loads of laundry each week to save a few bucks on the gas bill. But women’s magazines seem quick to flash the goodies: overpriced accessories, makeup and clothes that make you feel if you don’t run out and buy them right away, you’ll never catch a husband.
Speaking of makeup, I’ve changed my tune a bit. I now realize that buying a certain foundation will not make me look like Milla Jovovich. It took a few decades to realize that, but I’ve learned. I skipped makeup for my day job because my theory was, I’d sweat it off anyway. I’ve since moved into a new department, one that is not so physically demanding. I still rarely wear makeup at work, however. This, from someone who used to slap full makeup on as a teenager when she accompanied her mother to the grocery store.
Makeup. That’s one of the things you end up buying as a woman. And let’s not forget the sanitary napkins and tampons. Those aren’t cheap. And there’s the birth control pills, the Midol, the thyroid medicine, the hairstylist and manicures and pedicures. Add Internet shopping to the list and it’s no wonder women have money problems. There’s a reason women look for sugar daddies: life’s just too expensive for a woman, especially on our incomes.
But here’s the rub: your typical man would quite logically say to cut back on some of that stuff. And the typical man would be right. However, take away the makeup, manicure, pedicure, stylish clothes and the birth control pills and your guy might not be too happy. Sure, you can start buying your clothes in the men’s department, but you might as well borrow his, to save even more money. As for the makeup, well, maybe you can compromise. Buy stuff that’s only on sale. Or, perhaps as moral support, clip out some pictures of celebrity women without makeup and realize that without the war paint, they look just as haggard, tired and washed out as you do—they just have more money to fix the flaws.
As for me, I’ve already managed to knock one expense out of the way—no more sanitary supplies for me. But maybe, while I was still hosting my monthly “friend”, I should have looked into GladRags, reusable sanitary napkins, instead of giving my hard-earned money to Always.
And I forgot to mention bikini waxing. Any man who volunteers to have wax applied to his body for the purpose of hair removal deserves to make 25 cents an hour—AND suffer menstrual cramps, to boot.
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