Virginity Auctioning

Confirmed 56,232

About

Virginity Auctioning is the practice of placing one’s claimed virginity up for an online auction under the premise that the winning bidder will be able to engage the auctioneer in sexual intercourse.

Origin

The earliest known virginity auction was reported by the tabloid Weekly World News^[1] on January 4th, 2004, claiming that 24-year-old Cathy Cobblerson was selling her virginity online for $100,000 to pay off debt. The story is considered fictional as no evidence ever came to light.

Precursor

In 1998, the hoax website Our First Time was launched, which featured American actors Ty Taylor and Michelle Parma under the premise that the couple would be losing their virginity together on the site. In July that year, site was revealed to be a hoax by entrepreneur and actor Ken Tipton, who claimed a company planned to charge viewers of the site a $5 "age-verification" fee prior to the fake couple backing out having sex at the last minute.

Spread

January 2004: Rosie Harmen

In January 2004, the British tabloid News of the World reported that Bristol University student and aspiring sex therapist Rosie Harmen had placed her virginity up for an Ebay auction to pay for school, though it was subsequently removed from the site. The website RosieHarmen.com^[5] was subsequently launched to facilitate the auction.

March 2005: Graviela Yataco

In March 2005, Peruvian model Graviela Yataco reportedly placed her virginity up for auction before withdrawing the offer after receiving an offer for $1.5 million from a Canadian man. She was subsequently accused of orchestrating a publicity stunt.

July 2007: Carys Copestake

On July 1st, 2007, the British tabloid When the People^[2] reported that student Carys Copestake had placed her virginity for auction for 10,000 pounds on a sex worker website.

September 2008: Natalie Dylan

On September 9th, 2008, Sacramento State graduate Natalie Dylan announced during a radio broadcast of The Howard Stern Show that she planned to sell her virginity in an auction on the website for the Nevada brothel Moonlite BunnyRanch.^[3] On November 3rd, Dylan appeared on the Tyra Banks Show and discussed her plans to pay for graduate school with the money received from the auction (shown below). On May 17th, 2010, AOL News^[4] published an article about virginity auctions, which contained a statement from Moonlite BunnyRanch owner Dennis Hof who claimed that Dylan made $250,000 out of the deal without having to actually go through with the auction.

September 2008: Raffaella Fico

On September 16th, 2008, Italian model Raffaella Fico announced she would sell her virginity for a total of one million Euros, for which she later revealed was a publicity stunt.^[6]

March 2009: Alina Percea

On March 24th, 2009, The Daily Mail^[7] reported that Romanian teenager Alina Percea placed an add for her virginity on a German-language dating site for £50,000. On May 20th, The Daily Mail^[8] published a follow-up article reporting that Percea had gone through with the auction with a 45-year-old Italian businessman for £8,800, with whom she had unprotected sex after flying out to Venice.

January 2010: Belfast Telegraph Investigation

On January 25th, 2010, the Belfast Telegraph^[9] published an article about an ad discovered on the trading website Gumtree auctioning the virginity of a 16-year-old girl. After a Belfast Telegraph reporter investigated the ad by meeting the girl posed as a wealthy businessman, she claimed the whole auction was "a joke" after he revealed himself as a journalist.

February 2010: Unigirl

On February 3rd, 2010, The Australian^[11] reported that a New Zealand student had successfully auctioned her virginity for more than NZ $45,000. On January 22nd, 2012, The New Zealand Herald^[10] published an follow-up article reporting that the auction may have been an "elaborate and long-running hoax," after discovering that the Facebook photo used by the contact had been English supermodel Agyness Deyn.

August 2010: Miss Spring

On August 5th, 2010, Metro^[12] reported that a Hungarian teenage girl identifying herself as "Miss Spring" had sold her virginity to a British man for £200,000 after her auction page was removed from eBay. On September 2nd, the Australian Times^[13] reported that she had cancelled the auction after being visited by four men who visited her at her home and beat her.

May 2011: Noelle

On May 5th, 2011, The Daily Mail^[14] reported that Belgian student Noelle had sold her virginity in an online auction for £45,000 on the Yantra Amsterdam-based escort agency website. The winning bidder was later revealed to be Italian actor Paolo Calabresi, who posed as an Italian businessman wearing a wire to determine Noelle's authenticity. Noelle subsequently backed out of the auction after being intimidated by press coverage.^[15]

October 2012: Catarina Migliorini and Alexander Stepanov

On October 24th, 2012, auctions were concluded for the virginity of Brazilian Catarina Migliorini and Russian Alexander Stepanov for Australian director Justin Sisely's documentary film Virgins Wanted.^[17] Migliorini's virginity was sold for $780,000, while Stepanov's bid at $2,600. On July 9th, 2013, The Huffington Post^[18] reported that Migliorini had backed out of the deal, claiming that Sisely was trying to "defraud" her. On October 25th, The Huffington Post published an article reporting that Sisely had changed the format to a reality show and that the results of Stepanov's virginity auction would not be revealed until the show aired the following year. On December 16th, a trailer for the show was uploaded to YouTube.^[16]

November 2012: Rebecca Bernardo

In November 2012, Brazilian Rebecca Bernado uploaded a video to YouTube announcing that she would sell her virginity to pay for her mother's medical bills. The original video has since been deleted. On January 2nd, 2013, The Daily Dot^[23] published an article about the auction, reporting that Bernardo had received a bid of $35,000. On March 21st, 2014, The Huffington Post^[22] reported that it is unknown whether the deal was completed.

October 2013: Shatuniha

On October 30th, 2013, an auction was placed on the Russian trading site 24au.ru for the virginity of a Siberian woman identifying herself as "Shatuniha." On November 1st, the Siberian Times^[21] reported that the auction was closed at 900,000 roubles (US $27,950) and that the same woman appeared to have attempted to sell her virginity in April that year.

March 2014: Elizabeth Raine

On March 21st, 2014, medical student Elizabeth Raine announced she would be auctioning her virginity starting at $400,000 to the highest bidder, promising to donate 35% to a charity for women's education in developing countries.^[20] On May 8th, Raine canceled the auction after bidding closed at $801,000.^[19]