Gay Billionaire DavidGeffen Separation Now is Giving Meaning to Hypergamy

Former partners David Geffen and David Armstrong, who has also used the name Donovan Michaels.Credit...Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Analysis by Adam;

 It's unfair to post this story basing it in terminologies but I wanted to show you the new terms being used and their meaning. But the is a human side to this story and that is what I always look for, And without the story does not have the same weight. First about Geffen whom Ihave followed for the last 18+yrs. One of the situations about him was he always look for someone younger and beautiful. A Model type. I compare him to Trump in being the opposite of what Trump is except the taste of younger less affluent mates. If you are a Billionaire and because or age or other life circumstances you are not lucky in the love department, then you buy it. But it can't be from your social status because first they know too much, second they won't owed you or depend on you and thirdly they might be looking for the same things. You get Someone of the lower social status so you can hold on to them. Someone in need. Many of these chicks (we used to called them that) are in the dancing, modeling world and getting a rich older guy is "stepping up" or Hypergamy. The problem with this is that even though the younger guy is expected to be only for the richer guy unless he decides temporarily, do like a trio or more to watch and be involved.At the end everything goes back to the way it was. The richer guys does not have to give accounting of his time to no one, only to come home and sleep in the sam house or townhouse his mate, many times they would have separate rooms.The Rich man can end it when ever he likes. If he is closeted then he has to buy off his partner. In the case of David Geffen, you have a New Yorker that's been out for many years. He is well know in all gay circles because he gives money to important causes. So at any time that he gets tired he might just want another guy. In this case according to the Complainant in this lawsuit Geffen offered half of his money which will mean roughly 3 billion dollars.  I got to tell you if he believed that with no pre nuptial agreement the guy would have been perfect for Geffen "Not Smart".Street smarts but knowing nothing how this world runs$$ which is why I run this page. Trying to educate some.

Let me just review for a minute what the dictionary says about this kind of word "Hypergamy":

Dictionaries broadly define hypergamy as marrying or becoming involved with a person with more financial resources or social status.

But etymologists say that the term hypergamy (pronounced Hi-PER-gam-y) has a darker meaning: in the incel movement — short for “involuntary celibates” — where it has been used as justification for a range of misogynistic beliefs and theories.

David and Donavan or also David

The last time I wrote about David was in 2023. He was born in Brooklyn and went to Yale. He is made money in making movies and other areas.Long perceived as a bachelor, Geffen shocked many when he quietly married Donovan Michaels (also known as David Armstrong), a 32-year-old former dancer and trainer, in March 2023. Their relationship, though private, occasionally appeared on Geffen’s Instagram and at high-profile events. He Married but before that he had living  boyfriends, this was before the Legalization of marriage. They ended this way except there were no lawsuits. I guess David gave them a goin g away Porsche or something in that order. His last love was tall with pale skin, very anglo looking. Im not going to get you tired so you can have a chance to read below what Jesse Mckinley wrote.

David

By Jesse McKinley

The New York Times

It was a small detail amid a torrent of salacious accusations in the ongoing divorce drama between entertainment mogul David Geffen, 82, and his estranged husband, David Armstrong.

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.”

Dictionaries broadly define hypergamy as marrying or becoming involved with a person with more financial resources or social status.

But etymologists say that the term hypergamy (pronounced Hi-PER-gam-y) has a darker meaning: in the incel movement — short for “involuntary celibates” — where it has been used as justification for a range of misogynistic beliefs and theories.

“This is a word that’s been circulating in the ‘manosphere’ for a very long time,” said Adam Aleksic, a linguist who posts as the Etymology Nerd on social media, referring to the world of male podcasters and influencers, who often revel in all things masculine. 

“Hypergamy describes their framework for why the sexual allocation is not distributed evenly,” Mr. Aleksic explained, saying that incels believe that those at the top end of attractiveness — with physical and financial elements baked in — get most of the attention, while they languish romantically.

Mr. Aleksic and other linguists note that the term is just one of a number of incel words and phrases that have gravitated from the fringes to more mainstream use, including “Chads” (attractive, sometimes stereotypically masculine men who are successful sexually), “mogging” (to dominate someone else in the looks department), and “looksmaxxing” (physically adapting to make oneself more attractive).

“Hypergamy as a replacement for ‘gold digging’ feels to me like what certain cults have done to mask some unpleasant truths or aims,” said Amanda Montell, the author of “Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism.” “I see the manosphere and incel culture embracing hypergamy as a way to, I guess, make their culture and the things that they like to talk about sound legitimate.”

In recent years, the term has popped up in dating columns, trend stories, and pop-culture analysis (think “Bridgerton” and others). Hypergamy has been also adopted by some women who are in relationships that began on “sugar-dating” websites, according to Srushti Upadhyay, a doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo who has studied the phenomenon.

“Some sugar babies will refer to themselves as not sugar babies, but that they’re just dating hypergamously,” Ms. Upadhyay said.

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word back to the early 1880s. By the early 20th century, the word had been defined by a British folklore scholar, Edwin Sidney Hartland, as a custom “by which a man may marry or have sexual relations with a woman of lower rank, but no man of lower rank may marry into a caste above his own.” 

Other dating sites, some with an overt monetary angle, have also seemingly attempted to add an element of sophistication. One, called WhatsYourPrice.com, trumpets the use of hongbao: the red envelopes, filled with money, given in Asian culture for special occasions. WhatsYourPrice calls it “an upfront way” of showing “the energy and preparation that goes into getting ready for a great date.”

For its part, Seeking.com denies it is a sugar-dating website, saying in a statement that its terms of service “strictly prohibit any form of solicitation or commercial exchange for sexual services.”

The site has been in the news before, including in the controversy over Matt Gaetz, the former congressman who was nominated for attorney general last year. A House ethics report issued after his nomination was withdrawn found that Mr. Gaetz had attended parties with young women in attendance who had been initially contacted by an associate via Seekingarrangement.com, as the site was once known, and introduced to the congressman.

In Mr. Armstrong’s suit, he said he was paid $10,000 by Mr. Geffen for sex on the first meeting, and that the mogul soon began treating him like “a trophy to show off to his wealthy friends, under the guise of benevolence.” (Mr. Geffen’s lawyers did not respond directly to the allegation of a $10,000 payment, saying they would respond to Mr. Armstrong’s complaint “in its entirety when we file our response with the Court.”)

Maron Scull, an associate teaching professor of sociology at the University of Colorado, Denver who has written extensively about what is sometimes called “compensated dating,” said interviews with dozens of women who were “sugar babies” showed that “the power dynamics were incredibly complex.”

“Yes, indeed, there are some individuals where they are in desperate financial need,” she said, adding that sometimes the benefactor is much older. “And they enter into a relationship where they were kind of at the mercy of their sugar daddy.” 

But, she said, that’s not always the case.

“Women argued, actually, that ‘I’ve got more power because I can control the time and the energy that I devote and I can manipulate that a little bit to get him to give me more money,’” Ms. Scull said, saying that they “want to have a loving, meaningful relationship with somebody that is financially stable.”

In his suit, Mr. Armstrong suggests Mr. Geffen, too, wanted a loving, meaningful relationship. “Geffen told Michaels he loved him and the two would treat one another as life partners, share all assets equally, and Geffen would support Michaels financially for life,” the lawsuit asserts, using Mr. Armstrong’s alternate name Donovan Michaels.

Mr. Armstrong, in turn, “gave up his dreams — his modeling career, his independence — to dedicate himself fully to this promise,” the suit says, adding, “He did so with love.”

Mr. Geffen, whose net worth has been estimated at more than $8 billion, did not sign a prenuptial agreement with Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Geffen’s lawyer said that they will be “vigorously and righteously” fighting Mr. Armstrong’s lawsuit, which cites breach of contract.

“There was no contract — express, written, oral or implied — that has ever existed,” said Patty Glaser, a lawyer for Mr. Geffen. 

Mr. Aleksic, the linguist, suggested that Seeking.com probably knew of the meaning of hypergamy in the manosphere “and yet still advertised to that demographic as a kind of dog whistle.”

 

 ” A man and a woman embrace in a black and white photo with a blue box that says “Experience Hypergamy.”

Seeking.com — formerly known as Seekingarrangement.com — is considered a major player in the “sugar dating” world. The site includes the story of the chief executive and founder Brandon Wade, seen here, who met his wife on the site.

If so, that whistle may be on its way out. In a statement, Seeking.com said that while hypergamy had “well-developed historical and academic roots,” and had been used as a selling point for the site for several years, the company intended to drop it, saying it “does not condone or endorse any particular ideological indoctrination of the word.”

That said, as of Tuesday, the word still appeared widely on the company’s website, complete with a trademarked use of it.

“Hypergamy is the way of the future,” it reads. “Experience it for yourself.”