Easy Money, Hard Truth
Easy Money, Hard Truth
Topic
Sugaring
Overview
Mia is a college student struggling to balance her education and work while supporting herself financially. She is responsible for paying her own rent, utilities, and student loans, leaving her feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. As financial pressure begins to affect her academic performance, Mia becomes vulnerable to opportunities that promise quick money and an easier solution to her struggles. Unable to ask her family for financial support, Mia considers sugaring, believing it is a simple and low-risk way to escape her financial stress. However, is the choice really as safe and easy as it appears?
Purpose
To raise awareness about how financial vulnerability can increase the risk of exploitation and how individuals seeking financial support may become targets of sex trafficking through situations such as deceptive or coercive relationships.
Copyright and License
Sugaring: Easy Money, Hard Truth — Human and Cat Versions
Written by: Byeol Park; Dominique Roe-Sepowitz
Illustrations by: James Lopez
Copyright © 2026 Sex Trafficking Intervention Research Office (STIR). All rights reserved, except as expressly granted under the license below.
The Human and Cat Versions of Sugaring: Easy Money, Hard Truth are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
You may share and redistribute the Human or Cat Version in its original, unmodified form for noncommercial purposes, provided that you:
· give appropriate credit to the creators and Sex Trafficking Intervention Research Office (STIR);
· provide a link to the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license; and
· do not suggest that STIR or the creators endorse your use.
You may not use either version for commercial purposes or distribute modified, adapted, translated, remixed, or otherwise derivative versions without separate permission from STIR.
Copyright holder: Sex Trafficking Intervention Research Office (STIR)
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
License information: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
For educational, teaching, or other authorized uses, please contact STIR to request permission.