Rich Canberra men are spending more than $1.5 million a month to meet young women, according to a US-based website that matches millionaires with leggy blondes and brunettes.
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Almost 400 Canberra men have registered on the SeekingArrangement ''sugar daddy'' website and the company's founder Brandon Wade said the average ACT member is 46 years old, makes at least $268,503 a year and is worth over $4.5 million. Each member spends about $4256 a month on the website and has to prove an earning capacity over $250,000 to qualify for certification.
''The diamond club members and certified members are verified. They have to submit themselves to an extensive verification program … to make sure they earn what they say they earn,'' Mr Wade said.
And although Canberra men are willing to open their wallets they are the least frisky Australian members of the website.
A survey of the website's Aussie members found 84 per cent of ACT respondents had fewer than three sexual partners a year compared with Perth where 79 per cent said they had more than seven sexual partners each year.
Sexual anthropologist Bella Ellwood-Clayton said wealthy men might use a site that matches them with younger, attractive women because they are time poor or because they liked to be the dominant partner.
''Men in Canberra may be the less promiscuous because of their considerable work commitments or fear of repercussions on their social reputation,'' Dr Ellwood-Clayton said.
''Many of these men who play the part of sugar daddies, become addicted to the game - and to the websites that act to introduce them to sugar babies. Consequently they end up spending a lot of money each month on the site. But, given their total worth, it doesn't make a dent.''
The website has more than 11,000 local male members. But more women join the website than men. In the ACT there are 3568 female members. Mr Wade said the average female to male ratio was eight to one.
Dr Ellwood-Clayton said historically the mix of status and beauty was very common.
''Looking at this phenomenon anthropologically though - through the lens of history and cultural variance - the mixture of status and beauty has been a very common … the powerful older man and his nubile, young partner.''
