Love is something that almost all of us strive for. Even people our age who are not necessarily focused on it right now know that love is something that will eventually be something they address as they get older. While a lot of us might be used to associating love with Disney fairytales or relationships with serious chemistry, like Hazel and Augustus in “The Fault in Our Stars,” those are not the only options.
Brandon Wade is the founder of numerous dating websites centered on the concept of older, wealthy men finding attractive women for companionship. All expectations are laid out on the table; everyone participating knows the deal.
Immediate responses that come to mind would be that Wade is undermining the pure morality of love, that he is bastardizing it through prioritizing material expectations as the driving factor behind the relationship aside from genuine interest in one another. It can also be considered borderline prostitution; Wade even admitted in a CNN article that escorts and prostitutes have attempted to use his sites inappropriately, resulting in their expulsion. How can such a blatant, unapologetic and immoral idea culminate into this successful corporate institution?
But the thing is, it is none of our business. What these people do for a living and what their ideal form of love is should not really concern us. When you have people going out of their way to slander gay marriage or Westboro Baptists, they are getting uppity over other people’s lives that do not affect them whatsoever. I may not agree with Wade’s prerogative, but I cannot say it’s a wrong practice because the people on his site are openly honest about the expectations set for each other.
I also do not know what love is. Some people know and others do not, but while everyone does find out for themselves what love is, answers will differ. The love you have for one person and the love you have for another will not necessarily be the same. You do not love your mom the same way you do for a significant other or even between different others.
Daters on Wade’s websites clearly have their own stances on love that may not align with yours. This is fine and it is fine to disagree with them, but I do not find it our place to judge them. If this is what they want, let them have it.
You never rile your friend for getting chocolate ice cream over vanilla, do you?
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