Anthony Weiner
Anthony Weiner isn’t the only one who is trying to manipulate his penis pic and sexting publicity. So is Brandon Wade, the founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement.com, “the elite sugar daddy dating site.” At least SeekingArrangement is “the elite” according to SeekingArrangement. I don’t know what others think.
But in press emails sent to mainstream media, publicist Leroy Velasquez announced that “Seeking Arrangement.com conducted its own poll to prove that not everyone has a distaste for Weiner.”
I’m going to ignore Velasquez’s puns and only point out what I see as the keyword in that statement – “prove.” Seeking Arrangement conducted its own poll to prove that not everyone has a distaste for Weiner.
In other words, SeekingArrangement didn’t set out to find the truth. They created their “truth” and set out to “prove” it. And how did they do that? By seeking the opinions of young, female sugar babies. Not the general population of women, just young sugar babies.
To prove my point, let me break down SeekingArrangement’s survey stats.
According to its press release, 18,231 “Sugar Babies” were surveyed. Only “Sugar Babies.”
Out of those 18,231 “Sugar Babies,” 11,850 of them were ages 18-26. That’s nearly 65 percent of their survey respondents.
Only 1,094 of their respondents were age 35 or older. That’s only six percent of their survey respondents, which leads me to think that SeekingArrangement doesn’t think that women age 35 and over age are “capable” of being a sugar baby. Or maybe SeekingArrangement thinks women age 35 and over have wised-up and realize that it’s better to rely on oneself to survive in this world than on the whim of a sugar daddy.
(TMZ.com reported that Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner, Sydney Leathers, was a SeeekingArrangement.com client, while TheDirty.com was the first of numerous media outlets to report that Weiner promised Leathers a $5,000/month Chicago condo. He didn’t fulfill his promise. Whim?)
Of the youngest sugar babies surveyed – that 18-26 year-old category – 78 percent of them approved of Anthony Weiner. Of the oldest sugar babies surveyed – the mere 6 percent who were age 35 or older – only 21 percent of them approved of Weiner. To put it another way, a whopping 79% of them disapproved of Anthony Weiner.
Of course, that’s not the way SeekingArrangement promoted it.
As quoted in its press release, “‘Weiner has a way with women, as shown by our Sugar Babies’ approval rating,’ says Brandon Wade….”
Brandon Wade, MIT
The press release also pointed out that CEO Wade is an MIT grad. In fact, a BusinessInsider.com story on Wade quoted Wade as saying he was a nerd at MIT, didn’t get his first kiss until he was 21-years-old, still wasn’t successful at “picking up” women after that, but his mother told him that if he made a lot of money, he could be generous and that would get him dates, and so he started SeekingArrangement.
“‘Regardless of popular belief, not all women are turned off by Weiner,’” Wade is further quoted in the press release. “‘With a 78 percent approval rating, the mayoral candidate clearly has a hold of the younger female vote.’”
And what was the number one reason the sugar babies approved of Anthony Weiner?
Power!
Fifty-eight percent of the sugar babies perceived that the disgraced, unemployed, former Congressman who was forced to resign had power. But according to a June 12, 2013 New York Times profile of Weiner, i.e. an article that was published prior to Weiner’s latest sex scandal, Weiner was ineffective as a Congressman, i.e. he had no power.
A little over a month later, and after his exchanges with Leathers had been revealed, Weiner didn’t have enough power to silence an angry school principal.
Anthony Weiner can’t silence a school principal.
But back to the SeekingArrangement “poll.” Another 33 percent of the sugar babies approved of Weiner because of his occupation. Do I need to repeat that Weiner is unemployed?
Let me quote again from Velasquez’s press release: “While Weiner’s sexual habits directly affect his popularity, Wade believes that honesty, not intimate actions, should dictate a candidate’s potential as a leader.
Brandon Wade, CEO of SeekingArrangement
“‘If Weiner initially came clean and was honest about his actions, then it would reflect positively on his character,’ asserts Wade. ‘Often time, you see political figures deny involvement in sex scandals, only to get outed months later.’”
So since Weiner didn’t initially come clean and wasn’t honest about his actions, is Wade saying that he doesn’t approve of Weiner, even though his youngest “Sugar Babies” do?
I’m guessing Wade doesn’t really care about Weiner. I’m guessing that all he cares about is that SeekingArrangement.com get publicity from the Weiner scandal. And based on that, he’s the winner over Weiner. After all, I’m writing about SeekingArrangement.
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To say I’ve had second, even third and fourth, thoughts about publishing this post, well, that’s an understatement. As an acquaintance said to me after reading the above post, the folks behind SeekingArrangement.com are attention whores and the best way to punish them is by ignoring them.
But I’m having a hard time ignoring SeekingArrangement’s “fact” that their sugar babies approve of Weiner because they believe he has power.
That belief is why I decided to publish this post, because if women — and I know it’s not limited to sugar babies, and I also know it’s not limited to women — are willing to overlook reality in the pursuit of “power,” that’s sad. And it makes us all losers.
As I stated before, Weiner doesn’t have any power. He’s an unemployed man* who can’t control, i.e. doesn’t have power over or either chooses not to have power over, his sex actions, even though they are destroying his career and hurting his wife. Why would any woman (or man) — young or old — think that’s power? And why would any woman (or man) — young or old — admire that and pursue that?
Can we chalk it off to misguided? A lack of desire to live in reality? A lack of positive role models? A lack of self-esteem? Tell me, please. I want to understand this admiration for power, particularly non-existent power.
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*Please know that I don’t think unemployment makes a man powerless. I do think, though, it’s a misconception to consider Anthony Weiner powerful due to his past employment as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, an office he was forced out of in disgrace.
