FoxNews is running an article about Natalie Dylan, a Nevadan who is literally auctioning off her virginity to the highest bidder. Because prostitution is legal in Nevada (!), no laws are being broken. That's not what I'm here to praise, however.
The real silver lining in this otherwise utterly degrading and pathetic case is that the dehumanizing commodification of Natalie reveals something worth observing:
What does it profit a man to gain the world, but lose his soul?
3.7 million dollars is hardly the world, and therefore all the less worth losing your soul over.
What Natalie thinks she is gaining or losing is not where I find any hope in this story. Rather, what I find worth considering is how much people are willing to spend to destroy her "purity" as FoxNews describes it (a purity that was surely already lost by virtue of it being offered for sale).
My point is that, as sad as Natalie's case may be, both Natalie and her bidders have expressed, as only capitalists can, their value on virginity...which apparently has a pretty high market value.
Obviously, I'm not suggesting that this is a sound option for young women trying to pay off student loans, but perhaps it offers a useful meditation for the young lady who finds herself propositioned by some charming young man. After all, if you had something worth four million dollars, would you just give it away to some guy, or would you keep it for yourself?
Or, put another way, if the rights to first night are worth four million dollars, then saving yourself for your spouse is, economically speaking, the same as giving them a four million dollar wedding present.
The conservative blog I originally found this story on dug up a critical piece of information on her: she is a women's studies graduate student. A week's salary says that this is research for her thesis, nothing more.
Posted by: Matt | January 25, 2009 at 01:54 AM
I knew I picked the wrong field of study...
Posted by: Peter Terp | January 26, 2009 at 10:33 AM