September 23, 2012 | 10:07 pm

Online Dating or Legalized Prostitution?

Posted by Ilana Angel

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I was invited to attend an event in Los Angeles this past weekend that I found both intriguing and depressing.  I was tempted to not go but my curiosity trumped disdain so I opted to attend.  It was for an online dating site that is designed for Sugar Daddies and the women who want one.

The party was in a great loft space in downtown Los Angeles so I got dolled up and the Englishman and I headed out for an evening of investigative reporting.  Well, let me just say, Oh My!   This singles event was, in my opinion, an evening of legalized prostitution, and I was mortified.

The website is called SeekingArrangement.com and in the spirit of full disclosure, I have not visited the site.  I was planning to take a look after the party but I was so disturbed by the event that I never bothered to check it out.  Therefore, this article is about the party not the online site.

The event was called for 8:00.  We arrived around 8:30 and the party was still being set up.  There was no music, a few cookies with a chocolate fountain, and a nice assortment of hookers, transvestites, creepy men, and desperate women.  It was sad and not at all festive.

I spoke with the founder of the site, Mr. Brandon Wade, and I will tell you that he is lovely.  An articulate and sweet man who has become a millionaire by allowing men to legally find women for sex.  He is originally from Singapore, an MIT graduate with an MBA, and a kind demeanor.

We spoke for quite a while and I liked him.  He was a shy and nerdy guy, somewhat awkward, and not good with the ladies so he saw a need for himself.  He created a site where men with money, but no game, could meet women.  Important to note that he met his wife on the site.

Brandon is warm, funny, engaging and charming.  He is tall, dark and handsome and has clearly outgrown his nerdy phase.  His wife is much younger, very pretty, and while he let me know she signed a pre-nup, she would not  speak with me about how she met her husband.

The party was called “50 Shades of LA”, which I’m sure is some kind of copyright infringement.  They said it would be 100 men and 200 women, when it was really about 150 people total.  The night party felt desperate and frankly, if Ipaid for a ticket I would have wanted a refund.

The food was passed for about 30 minutes, the drinks were watered down, and then they were gone.  As I was interviewing a female guest, about a dozen cops came in to shut the party down because they did not have a liquor permit.  When the coppers came in, we left.

One woman I spoke to was 41, divorced, and said all men were pigs and she was not into a relationship.  She was looking to meet a man, have him buy her things, and in exchange she would sleep with him.  She wanted no commitment and no strings, but rather gifts and trips.

I asked several men if they would talk to me, and only one agreed.  He said the women were not his type and he was there to hang with his friends.  He said he was a millionaire and dating was not hard.  The millionair was  wearing 10 year old shoes and GAP pants.

Important to note I wore a press pass and a couple of men agreed to talk to me until they found out I worked for The Jewish Journal.  Once I said that they had a change of heart.  I'm guessing they were Jewish and felt they had been busted.  I wondered how many were married.

It was a masquerade ball and so everyone was wearing an elaborate Mardi Gras mask which made it quite odd.  I think the intention was for it to be sexy, but that did not really translate.  It felt sleazy, and for the woman, their make-up was melting under the masks which was not cute.

The women looked cheap, slutty, and desperate.  The men looked drunk, bored, and horny.  There were very few men talking to women.  It was like a high school dance where the boys and girls stand separately.  It was like a weird meeting for misfits, not a singles party.

I asked Brandon if he thought he had found a way to legalize prostitution, and he said all marriages were legalized prostitution.  Love was irrelevant because at the end of the day men wanted sex and to feel like men, and women wanted men to take care of them financially.

Is this how desperate single women have become?  Have men broken enough hearts that love is not longer the goal?  Are men so hard to find that they can lie about their income in order to get laid? This was a very sad commentary on being single and I felt for the women.

I left the party feeling dirty having spent time in a sea of hookers.  To be clear, I have nothing against hookers.  A girl has got make a living so good for them.  What was horrible is that some of these women were just so broken by love that this became acceptable for them.

This site is on par with Ashley Madison.  They have found a way to make millions off the broken hearts of desperate people.  I left wanting to hug all the women and tell them not to give up on love.  They all need to step away, value themselves, and keep the faith.