I was on the Stairmaster at the gym watching the most peculiar story being reported on the news. A 22 year old female student from San Diego is auctioning off her virginity in order to fundraise for college. That baffles me. I feel troubled by the moral backsliding of our generation and more than that, the public acceptance and in some cases approval of scenarios such as this.
It is common knowledge that prostitution is the oldest profession for women. Sexuality was one of the very few things women could own and prostitution was one of the very few opportunities women had to get money other than through marriage. Women’s futures were ruled by men whether through prostitution, being financially taken care of by a male relative or getting married. There was little choice or opportunity for the female gender. With time, however, women in America and all over the world have fought for equality and won the right to vote, the right to own property, individual rights and liberties and yet I feel, women such as this one take giant steps backward in terms of progress for all womankind.
Let me interject: I AM NOT A LIBERAL FEMINIST, however, I do believe all women should be born with all the unalienable rights rightly bestowed on every American citizen and citizens of free, democratic countries. I believe in this individual’s right to choose what she does with her body in this circumstance as much as believe in my freedom of speech to write about it. Prostitution is legal in the part of Nevada where she plans to consummate her business transaction, so I can’t fault her in breaking the law. I believe it is important that our constitution gives people the freedom to make their own decisions and I’m not questioning that, I’m questioning the decaying moral fabric of our society and our increasingly accepting attitude toward less than ethical or moral ideals.
I wonder when women in certain countries around the globe are forced into prostitution as a means of survival, why on Earth would a free, educated, beautiful and capable woman choose to sell herself? What possesses this kind of woman with so many options and freedoms to cherish financial security over self-respect? Furthermore, what does it say about our society when so many men are actually bidding on her? How many women enslaved in prostitution as a result of their culture, social standing, gender or circumstance, would love to be in her shoes and have other options than prostitution-to be capable of choosing another destiny!
I read a moving article by Sue Ryan of the London Telegraph about the members of the Bedia tribe in India, which has a long tradition of caste-based prostitution due to the overwhelming poverty of that region. According to the article:
“Girls born here become prostitutes in a rite of passage into "adulthood" as routine as marriage is to the rest of Indian society.” Women typically fetch about 100 ruppees (roughly equivalent to less than $4) for a session, however, virgins as young as 12 and 13 are valued at a much higher rate and married, middle-class businessman are willing to pay a premium for them.
Ryan reports, “For this, the man can have access to the girl for as long as he likes- several hours, days, or even weeks. When he tires of her, there is a celebration. Because it is considered unlucky for a girl to keep the money from her first time, it is spent instead on an extravagant party. Jewellery is bought for her and for her relatives, goats are slaughtered and alcohol runs freely. There is dancing, and offerings are made to the gods. Once a girl has lost her virginity she cannot marry. The choice has been made and the community celebrates it - this is her non-wedding night.”
According to Ryan, “The prevalence of caste-based prostitution in certain tribes in the region - the Bawaria, Nuts, Bedias, Kanjars and Sansis - came to light after a raid on a brothel in Delhi. Now an attempt is being made to break the cycle by which the girls of each generation enter the trade. Many of the women said they did not wish their daughters to follow them into the trade. Ritu and Manju each have a daughter, whose fathers were clients. "My daughter will get educated, and not enter this profession," said Ritu. "I have seen what it is like. I don't want it for her."
In America, we’re not legally forced into slavery or arranged marriages, women are no longer dependent on men for survival, we have forms of government assistance to aid the disadvantaged, so why I’m asking, why would a woman enslave herself, degrade herself in exchange for any amount of money? I find that women who sell themselves short of all their potential are shackled and haunted by hollow choices that echo in their lives longer than the moment the decision is made.
As this woman explains in an article by Tina Molly Lang, "we live in a capitalist society. Why shouldn't I be able to capitalize on my virginity?” Lang goes on to state, “Her most important priority is financial stability. Although her mother and fourth-grade teacher disapprove of this project, the owner of the bidding venue approves. ‘Why lose it to some guy in a Toyota when you can use it to pay for your education?’”
It’s a business transaction, her right, her body, call it what you’d like, make any excuse you’d like- it’s still prostitution. Why would a young woman living in a country full of opportunity and possessing a college degree, resort to an age-old tainted profession women are forced into because of a lack of opportunity? I would venture a guess that there would be more pride, sense of self-worth and accomplishment in working off her college debt over time than in selling herself as property online for a man’s pleasure. And the biggest question I must ask is: how far have we as women or even a society really come when free, “educated” women make decisions such as this?
