Student Virginity Auction Economics Essay
ENCS
February 15, 2012
Analytical Essay Number 1
“Student Auctions off Virginity for Offers of More Than 2.5 Million”
Price tags can be found on almost anything tangible and intangible, even if the goods for sale aren’t morally aligned with society or the laws of our country. In America supply and demand rules the roost, and for Natalie Dylan a 22 year old college graduate, even virtue has a price. For some she is nothing more than a high-priced prostitute but from an economic stand point she appears only as another entrepreneur. The free market system is a venue for all types of goods and services to be exchanged, an intangible good like virginity is ruled by supply and demand just like everything else.
During most of 2009 there was a media circus surrounding Natalie Dylan when she announced to the world on the Howard Stern show in September 2008 that she decided to auction off her virginity and would be accepting bids online through the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Nevada(. The bids began flooding in as high as 3.7 million dollars. It seems that after college she was placed in a difficult place when her step-father took out student loans in both her and her sister’s names and fraudulently spent the money. Her sister became a factor in her decision as an employee of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch after paying off her college education in a mere three weeks of employment. Unable to obtain funding for her Master’s degree in Family and Marriage Therapy due to her financial circumstances, she looked within herself for the answer to her money troubles. She feels that “idealized virginity is just a tool to keep women in their places.” Although she doesn’t value her virginity as sacred she takes the notion that a women’s virginity is priceless and used it as a vehicle for capitalism.
Economic gain was always at the heart of a woman’s virtue and not until the 19th century did the idealized notion of women saving oneself for marriage begin to become less valued. Before
February 15, 2012
Analytical Essay Number 1
“Student Auctions off Virginity for Offers of More Than 2.5 Million”
Price tags can be found on almost anything tangible and intangible, even if the goods for sale aren’t morally aligned with society or the laws of our country. In America supply and demand rules the roost, and for Natalie Dylan a 22 year old college graduate, even virtue has a price. For some she is nothing more than a high-priced prostitute but from an economic stand point she appears only as another entrepreneur. The free market system is a venue for all types of goods and services to be exchanged, an intangible good like virginity is ruled by supply and demand just like everything else.
During most of 2009 there was a media circus surrounding Natalie Dylan when she announced to the world on the Howard Stern show in September 2008 that she decided to auction off her virginity and would be accepting bids online through the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Nevada(. The bids began flooding in as high as 3.7 million dollars. It seems that after college she was placed in a difficult place when her step-father took out student loans in both her and her sister’s names and fraudulently spent the money. Her sister became a factor in her decision as an employee of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch after paying off her college education in a mere three weeks of employment. Unable to obtain funding for her Master’s degree in Family and Marriage Therapy due to her financial circumstances, she looked within herself for the answer to her money troubles. She feels that “idealized virginity is just a tool to keep women in their places.” Although she doesn’t value her virginity as sacred she takes the notion that a women’s virginity is priceless and used it as a vehicle for capitalism.
Economic gain was always at the heart of a woman’s virtue and not until the 19th century did the idealized notion of women saving oneself for marriage begin to become less valued. Before
Cited: Castina, “Howard Stern Natalie Dylan Virginity Auction” Online Posting Sept. 9, 2008. Pop Crunch Online: www.popcrunch.com/howard-stern-natalie-dylan-virginity-auction/ Hater, Hilton, “Natalie Dylan: Stiffed at Virginity Auction” Online Posting June 2, 2009 Hollywood Gossip Online: www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/06/natalie-dylan-stiffed-at-virginity-auction/ Keating, Libby, “Girl Selling Virginity To End Auction in the Next Few Days” Online Posting Oct 26, 2009. The Fab Life Online: www.thefablife.com/2009-10-26/exclusive-girl-selling-virginity-to-end-auction-in-the-next-few-days/ Levitt, Steven D. and Dubner, Stephen J. Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. “How is a Street Prostitute Like a Department Store Santa” William Morrow Paperbacks, 2011 Stone, Lawrence The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800. London, Penguin, 1977 (pg. 401-402) WBGene “Natalie Dylan The Interview” Online Posting Mar. 10, 2009. BlogginginAmerica.net Online: http://blogginginamerica.net/13/blogging/my-favorite-posts-2-natalie-dylan-part-2-the-interview/