Sunday, August 31, 2014

Selling Virginity: Who, For What and Why



At long last, let’s chat a bit about selling one’s virginity. I’m talking about female virginity put up for public sale, in this case, by the women themselves here in the US. And for the sake of this discussion, anyway, let’s define female “virgins” the way most of Western culture defines them – females who have intact hymens and whose vaginas have never experienced penile penetration. Of course, pre-intercourse males are described as virgins as well, but the cultural narrative about them is a very different story – one that deserves attention, but will appear in a later post.

At the outset, though, let’s also be completely clear about something else too: I’m in no way advocating for the unspeakable horrors of sexual trafficking. Or the exploitation of under-age girls, or the exploitation of any human being on the planet.

Yet, there’s this: Every now and again I’m intrigued to hear about yet another young, intelligent, very attractive woman who has made the decision to monetize her virginity. Often in the US it’s done by auctioning it off to the highest bidder, in much the same way as one might auction any other commodity, making lots of us in the feminist activist gender-equality crowd want to rip our hair out.