By Chris Gayomali
Have trouble landing a date? If your pockets are deep, a new dating website that allows its members to bid on attractive potential mates might be up your alley.
The new website, coyly titled What’s Your Price, allows “generous” bidders to pony up for dates with “beautiful, gorgeous or sexy people,” though it would appear that someone both beautiful and sexy is out of the question. Or maybe you’re an attractive, sexy single who could use some extra cash! (Of course you are.) The website states, “If you’re beautiful, we are the only dating site that guarantees you will get paid to spend time meeting fun and generous people.” After an initial haggling process, a conversation becomes unlocked between potential suitors, allowing them to arrange a date themselves.
What’s Your Price even has a First Date Etiquette section to ensure that your transact... I mean, er, date, goes down smoothly. (Like “Cash is King” or “Report people who send money using Western Union.”) Classy? You bet.
I know what you’re thinking: “How is this not prostitution?” The site’s founder and CEO, Brandon Wade, asserts on the site’s blog that bidding for a date is more akin to charity than an escort service:
“When capitalism is mixed in with dating, all of a sudden people start concluding “it must be prostitution”. But does paying money for a cup of coffee every morning mean Starbucks is engaging in prostitution? Does paying for gas every time you fill up at the gas station mean that Mobil or BP is pimping? Does donating money to the Church every Sunday morning equate religion to prostitution? Obviously NOT, and obviously buying a First Date isn’t either.”
See that? Being attractive: It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
