Rent Girlfriend? Woman's Post On Date Arrangement Sparks Debate

Have you heard of rental girlfriends or boyfriends? If you are familiar with Japan's culture, you would know that there is a system for hiring a partner to imitate relationships. This fabricated relationship is to show that there is a partner, go on fake dates and just enjoy each other's company. Even manga, anime and other content in Japan are inspired by this culture. But has this culture permeated in India too? Apparently yes. A woman recently posted about being a rental girlfriend. 

An Indian woman sparked controversy on the internet after posting about being available as a rental girlfriend. It is not yet known if she was actually inspired by the Japanese culture or was the post just a sarcasm or joke. However, it did invite a lot of comments that joked around the idea.

The woman's post and rates as a rental girlfriend 

A woman with an Instagram handle of name @divya_giri__  wrote, "Single? Willing to go on a date? Rent me for a date!!” The caption was embedded in a reel in which the woman was posing in front of the mirror. 

Not only this, the woman jotted down the rates for renting her for various kinds of date. 

She wrote, ‘Chill Coffee Date’ for Rs. 1500, a ‘Normal Date (Dinner & Movie)’ for Rs. 2000, cooking together at home for Rs 3500, a ‘Bike Date’ for Rs. 4000, a ‘Public Post About Our Date’ for Rs. 6000 to Rs. 10,000.

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A post shared by Divya Giri (@divya_giri__)

People's reaction to the post

Instagram users were intrigued by the post. Many people commented and shared their perspectives. The reel gathered 14,629 likes till now. Let's see what people have to say about the culture of rental girlfriends in India. 

One of the users referred to the Japanese culture of renting partners, friends and families and said, “Girl thinks she’s in Japan."

The reel went so viral that it reached other social media platforms too. An X user said,  “All these are simply scams.” beginning the suspicion of a scam. Following on the same line, another user wrote, “This is honey trap. So stay away from, if you trapped thn asking lakhs of money, so beware.”

What do you think about this rental culture? Should it be implemented in India?