What’s the price of virginity?
IN first-world cultures where comely young women aren’t typically sold off by older men (and to older men), headlines were made recently when an Australian documentary auctioned the virginities of a young man and woman.
Twenty-year-old Brazilian ‘maiden’, Catarina Migliorina, fetched $780,000, while Alexander Stepanov initially made $3,000. Yes, initially. His winning bidder, Nene B, wasn’t all ‘she’ seemed. But more of that later.
After stiff bidding by Americans, and an Indian millionaire, Catarina’s virginity was purchased by a Japanese man, ‘Natsu’.
Selling a young woman to a rich man — surely that’s seedy, prostitution and illegal?
Not prostitution if it’s just the once, says Catarina herself, who will use the money for charity. It’s not illegal because the encounter will be on a plane flying between the US and Australia. I guess there’s no way around the seediness.
Tellingly, the ‘gentleman’ who intends to deflower Catarina will not be kissing and telling — his own name. He will not be identified. So I presume he is a little embarrassed.
Then we come to poor (well, less rich) Alexander Stepanov. I’m not sure if he’s a victim or a victor. He’s a guy and he’s getting paid to have sex.
His fee isn’t a patch on Catarina’s, but he’s also ‘only’ offering a male virginity, which isn’t celebrated. It also can’t be easily proven. The auction organisers said: “Given the difficulty in certifying a male’s claim to virginity we ask that you take into consideration the chosen participant, his story and his demeanour when considering his claims to sexual abstinence.”
Female virginity is a commodity in many religions and cultures. In thriller and horror movies, such as Sorority Row and Halloween, the wanton girls get killed first, leaving the virgin to fend off her boyfriend’s advances and the axe-wielding maniac.
This theme is sent up in Cherry Falls — a 2000 slasher film starring the late Brittany Murphy. Its tagline is: “Lose your innocence … or lose your life”. Teens are murdered and their virginity is highlighted by the killer. So, a high school orgy is planned to ward off the murderer. Of course.
The 2008 film, Taken, stars Liam Neeson as Bryan, whose 17-year-old daughter, Kim, is a one-dimensional daddy’s girl. He worries about her going to Paris and is proven right when she is kidnapped at the airport.
Kim, who is a virgin, and her friend, Amanda, who isn’t, have been taken by a gang who traffic in white, western women.
Non-virgin Amanda is sent to a grim, dimly-lit prefabricated brothel, but Kim is planned for wealthy clients. She is bought by a sheik whose hobby is deflowering virgins.
Catholicism has many devotees of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mary became pregnant and gave birth to the son of God without the taint of sex. She remained a virgin, many believe, for the duration of her marriage to the mortal Joseph. She is often referred to by this ‘pure’ status, as ‘the blessed virgin’. But not only Catholicism prizes virginity.
The Islamic religious text, the Qur’an, is interpreted as referring to the prize of 72 virgins in the afterlife for devout males.
So what’s a girl to do if her religion and culture demand that she be pure for her upcoming marriage, but she hasn’t fended off every wooer before the nuptials?
Well, she could opt for the ultimate makeover. There are, apparently, ways to become ‘like a virgin’ again if you have the money and the inclination.
Dodgy-looking websites sell DIY kits featuring what appear to be cling film and red dye capsules.
Weirdly, one of these sites offers a discount depending on the number of home virgin-maker kits you buy.
Then, there’s the more expensive option of surgery.
Many cosmetic surgery clinics offer a quick operation (a half to one hour) to clients who may remain anonymous.
One London clinic says: “We understand the complications of a woman losing her virginity, before she gets married, in some cultures and societies.
“In some countries, a woman might get killed for the honour of the family. The hymen was, and still is, considered as the seal of approval that the woman is still a virgin, never had sexual intercourse and is a sign of purity. In some cultures and religions, a man will only look for a virgin to marry.”
The Regency Clinic, in London, says it has been performing this surgery for more than 18 years and has “helped quite a lot of women from different backgrounds and cultures”.
The surgery is performed under local-anaesthetic “as most patients do not want to be missed from home”.
Such clinics are critical of cheaper, DIY options: “We believe that inserting a couple of vaginal stitches, or the red-colour gelatin capsule, are not hymen repair. We perform proper hymen reconstruction, as we are fully aware of the risk and consequences if the woman was found not to be a virgin.”
This prizing of virginity doesn’t seem to be as widespread in 21st century Ireland. Central Statistics Office figures show the number of cohabiting couples was 143,561 in 2011, compared with 121,759 in 2006.
The CSO says that “cohabitation is often a precursor to marriage in Ireland”, so it doesn’t seem there is as much demand for such a clinic here.
This year, the HSE published a study, Attitudes to Fertility, Sexual Health and Motherhood, among a sample of non-Irish minority ethnic women living in Ireland.
This noted that while immigrant women from several ethnic backgrounds prized purity, Chinese women are “aware that a woman ‘loses face’ and ‘loses value’ in dowry or monetary terms on marriage if considered ‘unchaste’.”
And the report also notes that “Chinese women spoke of the practice of ‘hymen reconstruction’ emerging as a way of managing such implications of sexual experimentation before marriage”.
The Regency Clinic, and other such clinics in Britain, typically allow patients to remain anonymous — “You do not have to give us your real name if you wish” — so it is difficult to gauge if many Irish women avail of their services.
It also remains to be seen if any Irish lads or lassies will take part in the next virginity auction. Oh yes, there will be more, apparently — the organisers say they are “receiving hundreds of emails from people who would like to auction their virginity”.
Just last Thursday, they announced that if “you are interested in being the next virgin to participate in the documentary, please send us a short film outlining your reasons for wanting to auction your virginity. We except [sic] applicants from all over the world.”
None of the bidders for either Catarina or Alexander gave their nationality as Irish — though whether this is due to some moral reserve or the state of people’s finances is up for speculation.
Meanwhile, Alexander’s buyer’s name was crossed off the list of bidders this week. Queries to the auction organisers reveal that ‘Nene B’ was actually a man.
A spokeswoman for Virgins Wanted said: “Nene B would not undergo health checks for the consummation and he was a male.” Oops.
Speaking yesterday, she said: “We have gone with our next highest bidder, which is Kasandra Darlinghurst. The act of consummation is happening in America in the next 12 hours. The Virgin Wanted guys have just landed in the States.”
So, for now, one Kasandra Darlinghurst, who bid the second-highest amount, ($2,600), looks like she has the dubious honour of winning a dubious auction. Whether Catarina or her ‘purchaser’, Natsu, go through with their end of the deal, remains to be seen.
