Amid our current economic, social, and political uncertainty, many young women online are embracing what they call hypergamy, a strategic intimate partnership between a man of high socioeconomic status and a woman of lower socioeconomic status. These women self-identify as sugar babies, spoiled girlfriends, and high-value women. Some feminists denounce hypergamy as sexually and economically exploitative, while others celebrate it as sexually and economically empowering. This tension begs the question: How do we define and identify women's exploitation and empowerment, and how can a phenomenon be labeled as being both at once?

Rachel Davis is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University. She is also Faculty Affiliate with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life. Her work appears in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Feminist Media Studies, and Criminology and Criminal Justice among others.