Virginity for sale, going once, going twice . . .
2008-11-03, 11:03 p.m.

So a 22 yr old woman going by the pseudonym Natalie Dylan is auctioning off her virginity which has brought in offers from 1-3.8 million dollars. Natalie is a Sacramento State graduate (that's where my dad graduated from!) who's sister works for the (legal) brothel in Nevada. She is planning on pursuing her masters in sex therapy, which of course this money will help pay for, and is using her experience as a case study for her thesis.
In my opinion she is absolutely amazing. She is business savvy, intelligent, knows what she wants and believes in the right of a woman to chose what she wants to do with her body.

Below is a quick article, and a link to a bit with Tyra Banks. Let me preface this by saying I DETEST Tyra Banks. I couldn't stand her before and I hate her even more now. She skewers this girl and only makes herself look stupid while Natalie comes off as intelligent, purposeful and sincere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u4va_MuLVI

Natalie makes a very good point during the interview that while everyone is joking about Lee (one of her bidders) and cheering him on, and talking about the SEX rather than the POLITICS behind what Natalie is choosing to do, they are condemning Natalie (btw, I have a sneaking suspicion that she's from the middle east. Maybe Persian or syrian).

Woman are whore and men are "players"
That shit makes me so mad. I applaud Natalie and her efforts to bring attention to this very real issue. It's as confining as the hijab in Saudia Arabia. We build this image for what we want women to be and we trap them behind it. In fact I just read an article the other day of a woman who after 25 years and she decided to wear the hijab because she felt it shaped her personality made her stronger, and made people think twice about issues that were important to her, all this while her husband begged her not to wear it because of his own liberal view points and the trouble he knew it would cause her.

Woman in america can not chose to be held to the standards our evangelical/britney spears nation holds. That we must be virginal sluts. If we're too virgin or too slut we're condemned as woman. It is a careful dance we play between prude and whore and it just never seems enough for the media or for men. As confining as the hijab.

By natalie CHOOSING what she is going to do with her body, by being comfortable with it and setting her own terms, by using her body to gain knowledge and impart this knowledge on the scientific community and sparking this discussion she is bringing to the forefront the next big issue of our times.

Personally I think prostitution should be legal. For girls, the best way to pay for your college degree is to strip, some of my professors did it when they were younger. It's a choice they made, and prostitution should be done in a standardized legalized form instead of on the streets. If woman can be in a brothel sanctioned by the gov. (not to mention taxed) and inspected then they are in a safer space rather than on the streets.
It's like abortion. go ahead and make it illegal, but it doesn't mean women wont stick coat hangers into their stomaches and end up dying from tetnus like they did in the 20s.

America still has a looonng way to go. We have yet to catch up to other westernized worlds in so many ways.

"Woman, 22, auctioning virginity

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old woman who is auctioning off her virginity told "The Tyra Banks Show" in New York that she is 100 percent serious about the auction.

Natalie Dylan said during an interview scheduled to air Monday that she "wanted to study the dichotomous nature between virginity and prostitution. There's really been so few case studies of it ... I stumbled upon this article of a Peruvian woman who wanted to sell her virginity and she was offered and exorbitant amount of cash... $1.5 million."

Dylan, who said she wants to pursue a career as a sex therapist, said many people have misconceptions about virginity.

"I think people misconstrue virginity with being prudes. I'm definitely not; I'm very open-minded to what they want to do ... I think this is about being pro-choice with your body," she said.

The college graduate said she has received bids ranging from $1 million to $3.8 million from more than 5,000 men.

"It's not like an eBay auction... I don't have to take the highest bidder. I'm taking time to get to know the guys. We contact each other back and forth," she said. "I completely plan on following through with this act."