risky business

For today's paper, I wrote a profile of this book, "The Fortune Hunters: Dazzling Women and the Men They Married." You can read that article here.

Basically, the book describes the art of marrying for money. In the eyes of the author, a former gossip columnist, that desire is a profession in itself -- requiring factors like financial foresight, strength of character and unrivaled social graces.

At one point, the author asks this question: "Fortune hunting, like diving for treasure, is a real job. Some women strive to be CEOs; others prefer to wed them. Is one endeavor really morally superior to the other?"

I don't know if this is a direct result of the the threat of a national economic recession, but I've seen more and more feature articles lately portraying the human side of women who equate sex with money.

Radar has this excellent feature, "Secrets of a hipster hooker," and Marie Claire has this interesting one, "What's a nice girl like Brooke doing at the Bunny Ranch?"

What do you think? As your romantic history becomes bleaker, and your financial situation becomes more dire, are you less likely to pass judgment on the traditional gold digger?