When It Raines, It Pours: College Student Offers Her Virginity to the Highest Bidder [UPDATED]
It may sound like the premise of a summer-movie sex comedy, but it’s not appearing at a multiplex near you anytime soon. Nope, you can get a front row seat for this high-concept idea by pulling up a virtual chair in cyberspace: college student “Elizabeth Raine” (a pseudonym) is auctioning off her virginity.
The auction’s official website makes the pitch clearly and succinctly, directly from Raine herself: ” I am a sensually stunning, highly educated, and charismatic American woman who has placed a 12-hour date with me atop the auction block. And did I mention I’m a virgin? Yes, that’s right; I have made the bold (but not thoughtless) decision to auction off my virginity. I hope you are intrigued!”
“Intrigued” is probably an accurate description of most observers, for one reason or another! The winning bidder receives a 12-hour block of time with Raine during which she will offer up her virginity. She’s also willing to back up the legitimacy of her virginity with a medical examination, if the winning bidder so desires. As of this writing, the bidding has reached $801,000. Raine has promised to keep the bidders and eventual winner confidential. The 12-hour block will be far from a free-for-all for the winner, though — Raine demands that the victor show a clean bill of health, not be under the influence of any drugs, and not try to have anal sex with her.
Raine’s website Q&A doesn’t shy away from inquiries about the possibility that some might label the auction an act of prostitution. “I could dodge the label if I tried, but at the very least I have agreed to an undeniable act of prostitution. Instead, I might suggest that prostitute is a very simple and stigmatized label for a complex and diverse profession. There are truly all sorts of prostitutes (sadly many are very oppressed, but some like me are not) and lumping them all together and condemning them all equally serves no right purpose.”
Much of the press coverage of the auction has lent prominence to Raines’s college-student status (the specific college remains anonymous, though Raines allows that she’s pursuing a MD/PhD. and that medicine is her passion), aligning it with the recent Belle Knox controversy.
What do you think? Would you bid, and if you were in Raines’s position, would you contemplate a similar auction?
[UPDATE 5/12]: Raines decided not to go through with the auction, closing down her website and stating on her blog: “The bidding closed yesterday as planned (high bid was $801,000), but I am here to tell you that the terms of the auction will not be fulfilled. I have decided it is time to put a stop to this kerfuffle (to describe it nicely) and return my focus to my medical training.” She further remarked in a later post entitled “Should you sell your virginity?”: “You may think it seems like easy money, but it is not. It will take a lot of effort, and then it almost certainly will not work out. It is far from a clean and easy process.”
