When the term, “ gold digger ,” is mentioned, the picture the comes to one’s mind is that of a flashy woman who is hooked to a man in order to satisfy her unquenchable appetite for good life which she cannot provide for herself.
In what has become a stereotype, such woman is known to stay hooked as long as she constantly gets regular supplies of what she wants not caring about other qualities lacking in the partner.
But is that the true or absolute meaning of a gold digger? Is it all about women or all about relationships? Not so. Just as there are female gold diggers, so are male gold diggers in relationships.
Some men would simply do everything possible to get hooked to ladies well blessed with fortune and draw from their “resources” to satisfy their own personal high class tastes which they may not have the wherewithal to take care of.
Such persons don’t let go of the partners. They often stay glued and milk their partners, if possible, dry.
The meaning of the term is also well explained in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, and it shows that gold digging is not restricted to women alone.
The dictionary defines a gold digger as “A person who uses the fact that he or she is attractive to get money from a relationship with somebody.”
The emphasis in the dictionary meaning is in the “he or she.”
By extension, the phenomenon, it has been discovered, is not restricted to that of romance between men and women, but among friends too.
That is why in some instances, friends flock around one of them who appears to be well off. A case in point is that of Priscilla David (not real name), who is doing quite well at her job and earns big.
Most of her girlfriends know her financial status as it’s quite obvious, so, they tend to take advantage.
Whenever they go out to eat, they consistently ignore the bill which she picks regularly. They are always “borrowing” items, usually clothes and other things like wrist watches, glasses and many others, from her, but which they never return.
For the men too, in the gold digger phenomenon, there is always one of them who picks the bill when they go drinking. He becomes their meal ticket and in other cases, some move into his apartment, totally dependent on him.
Perhaps because of the poor economic situation in the country over the years or by the mere fact that gold digging is natural to some people, many have encountered them at different points of their lives.
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Stella Alfred, a fashion designer, spoke about her experience, saying that she found them more among her friends.
“I’ve encountered them more in my friends. I’m a nice person but once in a while I can pick them out. They are friends who are often too demanding and unnecessarily flamboyant. They like and want to have big things which they cannot afford,” she said.
Ose Ighodalo who is a businessman had his thoughts on the phenomenon.
His words: “As a guy, we encounter a lot of them, especially in relationships. When it’s obvious you have small money you don’t know what woman is coming around because of that. I have known a few girls that had tried it but I quickly put a stop to it.”
“Anyone can be a gold digger; they may be men or women. They stay glued to you because they are getting one thing or the other from you. I had encounters with both male and female. For instance, someone called me and asked for money and when I didn’t give, till today that person hasn’t called again,” said Tracy Udoh who is an engineer.
With the experiences of people generally, it would not be wrong to conclude that the term “gold digger” is not about women alone. It affects men too. The general conclusion that it has to do with women alone is only a stereotype which has for a long time shown women in a bad light.
