Last week, Mr. Armstrong, a 32-year-old former exotic dancer who has also used the name Donovan Michaels, filed a lengthy civil suit in Los Angeles, filled with allegations that Mr. Geffen used drugs and was abusive, and calling Mr. Geffen “an exploiter, masquerading as a white knight while hiding behind wealth, philanthropy, and fame.”
And tucked into that litany of accusations — which Mr. Geffen’s lawyer blasted, calling it a “false, pathetic lawsuit” — is the assertion that the couple met on the dating website now known as Seeking.com, which describes itself as “a space for love and luxury to meet,” through a mutual commitment to hypergamy, something it mentions and promotes repeatedly on its website.
Hyperga-what?
Hypergamy is broadly defined by dictionaries as marrying or becoming involved with someone who has more financial resources or social status than you. “Marrying up” was an old, somewhat polite way of putting it; there are less polite ways, as well.
Seeking.com — formerly known as Seekingarrangement.com — has been considered a major player in the “sugar dating” world, where sites connect romantic partners interested in exchanging gifts or money for companionship, sometimes with sexual overtones. Sites have been accused of fostering manipulative and transactional emotional relationships, and monetizing dating in a way that occasionally borders on prostitution.
For its part, Seeking.com describes hypergamy in rosy fashion as “a romantic relationship with someone whose strengths complement your weaknesses, enhancing both partners’ growth, success, and social status through the relationship.”
