Need a new couch but the only cash you have is the change found in your current one?
No problem.
Like you did in grade school, you can “trade” something of yours for something that someone else has to offer. In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of online social media marketplaces where money is banned and people barter, trading everything from furniture to transit tokens and booze. It’s actually pretty genius.
We’ve already told you about Toronto-based Bunz Trading Zone (and the amazing thing they did for a Fort McMurray bride).
Now, according to a report by CBC, sex is the newest currency on the site. You read that correctly: they claim that a growing number of posts are involving sexual favours in exchange for goods and services.
Naturally, it didn’t take long for fellow Bunz users to question whether it was allowed. Apparently, it is. When questioned, the site admins wrote: “We don’t encourage or discourage it. We do not allow soliciting for sex.” But, hey, if that’s the only currency you have, you’re encouraged to go for it.
“If people want to offer sex/sexual services as a trade, that’s just fine.”
The Bunz admin goes on to write, “Trades are trades and services are services. We support sex work and sex workers. I’m closing this thread now because we don’t need to debate the issue.” Apparently, sex falls under the same category as helping people move. They are allowed as long as they don’t break prostitution laws.
Photo: Bunz/CBC
Based on their comments, most members had no problem with it.
This highlights other issues, however. In an age of heightened body pride movements, sexual empowerment and consent issues, the fact that sex can be so frivolously traded for commodities is unsettling for some. The sad reality is many urban millennials have one thing in common: they’re broke. Presumably, most of the predominantly millennials users wouldn’t be on the site in the first place if they didn’t need to be.
The good news is that they’re also resourceful in making ends meet (in ways that don’t involve sex).
That was the reason why Bunz was started in the first place. The brainchild of 32-year-old Emily Bitze, Bunz began with humble beginnings about three years ago. Like most urban artists, she was broke and hungry and decided to form a community in order to sustain herself.
Something that started with just a few users has now grown to include more than 40,000 members. They now have their own app and backing from an angel investor. According to CBC, the site sees an average of 600 trades per day. The company has also expanded well beyond Toronto to include groups in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, London, Ont., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Berlin.
Back to the trading of sex thing. To me, it’s disheartening that millennials have to turn to such measures. To some (like the user who said they would “sell their soul”), it marks a last resort. The thing is, most of the people I know feel like they have a lot less than our parents did at our age. There are many reasons for this, ranging from a less secure and stable corporate landscape to the rise of risky entrepreneurship culture, and the fact that out cities are more jam-packed with money-draining ways to spend our time than ever were before.
Then there’s our social media-fuelled culture, where our “like-worthiness” (and subsequent self-worth to some) is tied to an image of a rich lifestyle, filled with exciting experiences, cool outfits, and wanderlust-fuelled travels. In fact, a recent RateHub.ca survey even found that 70 per cent of respondents attribute a quarter of their total debt to FOMO spending.
I’ve had broke artist friends half-jokingly say that they’d do anything for a few extra grand. And no, there’s nothing too inspiring about that. But to frivolously trade our bodies for things like furniture and subway tickets is a whole new level.
What price are we willing to pay in order to simply survive in our cities? Surely there are better measures. Perhaps there should be more sites like Swapcity, where people trade professional services. This could range from graphic design and copywriting to beauty and makeup – no cash needed. Not only would it facilitate professional networking, it would also ensure that people are doing what they are trained to do and likely passionate about.
A follow-up article on CBC today says the frequency of sexual offers on Bunz is cited as “very rare” and not condoned. Allowing it at all presents not only a slippery slope, but opens a slew of other ethical issues as well.
But hey, to each their own.
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