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Virginity for sale

12:45 / 21.03.04

A few months ago when the issue of tuition fees was being debated in the UK parliament the story of Rosie Reid surfaced.

Rosies was a student unwilling to be saddled with the current average student debt of £15 000 when she graduated and felt that working alongside her studies would have an impact on her degree so she came up with a novel soluition – auctioning off her viginity.

I'm sure many thought this story simply the empty posturing of a cocksure student, but it seems that Ms Reid has actually gone through with her plan an netting the sum of £8,400.

So what do people think? Is selling your virginity a big deal or is it just something to tell the grandkids? Is it more scandalous that a degree costs more than a persons virginity? Is it a political protect? An indightment of the Blairite policy of higher tuition fees?

12:49 / 21.03.04

ooop forgot to add the link to the news story

16:37 / 21.03.04

i have a friend who was telling me on thursday night his 'plan c' is to find himself the richest old poof he can and sell him his anal virginity.

do you reckon he would get more or less?

i was worrying for him that by the time plan c is needed, the product may have devalued... but we were guessing around ten thousand for an ebay type auction. on a street corner, maybe a grand?

17:20 / 21.03.04

Based on the amount Reid got I'd say your estimates are over generous...

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:30 / 21.03.04

Your friend appears not to have twigged that gay men exist as something other than a financial resource. Perhaps as such he should divest himself of his anal virginity before he loses his youth, which is in all probability the only thing he has going for him.

Back on topic... one's first reaction to this is that it is pretty horrific, i.e. that the government has created a situation where students are having to consider selling their virtue in order to pay for their education. But then... didn't we have a similar exposé on students having to strip to pay their way through college a decade or so ago? The bottom line, as far as I can tell, is that Rosie Reid chose to sell her virginity online in order to make capital, in this case to fund herself through college. Because she was in fairly unstraitened circumstances - that is, she had other options, most obviously incurring debt and gambling on making money later - and because this act became a newsworthy story and thus provided a sense of participation in something greater or more exciting, she could command a higher price for it than, say, somebody who needed the money to make rent or feed a heroin addiction.

18:59 / 21.03.04

Exactly. In a way, it strikes me as something of a non-story, at least in terms of it actually *meaning* anything. This was entirely her choice - like Haus says, there are other options and any student with less of a need to get their name into the paper than Reid (or, saving that, a brain) will take one of them.

Whisky Priestess

19:46 / 21.03.04

"Your friend appears not to have twigged that gay men exist as something other than a financial resource."

Sorry? What the guy is proposing to do is merely a gender-reversed version of Rosie Reid's plan, who used a straight man as a cash cow (gaily mixing metaphors) and then went back to her lesbian partner. Why is it worse or less defensible when a man proposes to sell his sweet ass?

This is such a prurient non-story, you're right, made juicier by the inevitable interest of the News of the World readers in the idea of a lesbian virgin selling herself. Hymen, schmymen. Most people would be lucky to lose their virginity and get a cooked breakfast for it, let alone eight grand.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:38 / 21.03.04

Sorry? What the guy is proposing to do is merely a gender-reversed version of Rosie Reid's plan, who used a straight man as a cash cow (gaily mixing metaphors) and then went back to her lesbian partner. Why is it worse or less defensible when a man proposes to sell his sweet ass?

Oh, it isn't. I just don't think Toksik's friend is likely to get much for it, and he probably should go for it as soon as possible; I don't believe that there is an army of "rich old poofs" out there eager to blow their wad (as it were) on toksy's mates, is all... and that he might want to set his sites on a cooked breakfast and work his way up.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:57 / 21.03.04

there are other options and any student with less of a need to get their name into the paper than Reid (or, saving that, a brain) will take one of them

Of course there are other options... but aren't we assuming just a teensy bit much here about Ms Reid's view of things? She evidently sees the loss of her virginity as having less worth than an education. She could well be right. She could well be wrong. But if that's how she sees things, then she's made a great deal. Personally, I don't actually see there's that much to criticise her for. Other than free-market capitalism.

The kind of guy who'd actually participate in an auction for someone's virginity, though...

I just hope she kept a gun under the pillow. Just in case. Otherwise stupidity would definitely have entered into the equation.

22:11 / 21.03.04

Well, yes, but the idea here seems to be that we should somehow see it as some kind of terrible indication of the financial burdens that students face - "She had to sell her virginity *just* to be able to get an education? What is this country coming to?" - that somehow she had no other option, and it just doesn't work that way.

The website promoting the sale said: "Rosie's auction highlights the financial problems that face today's students."

and

The Bristol University social policy student says she would rather sleep with a stranger than face years of comparative poverty. "I'll leave university £15,000 in debt. That's why I am taking this drastic action."

It's a publicity stunt. Although I'm not entirely sure what she was trying to publicise. And yeah, if she views things the way you're suggesting, Stoatie, then good for her. The headlines aren't about that, though - they're about how terrible it is that it's come to this, and those quotes from Reid that have made it into these stories suggest that that's precisely what she wanted. And that's as much a lie on her part as anything Blair and friends have spouted on the subject of University fees.

22:17 / 21.03.04

I've also got to wonder exactly what she's comparing her financial situation to when using the phrase "comparitive poverty." Either she's unaware of the fact that nobody's going to be knocking on her door demanding fifteen grand as soon as she graduates, or it's an indication of just how much living with yr £60k-a-year parents can skew your view of reality.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:30 / 21.03.04

Oh, of course it's a publicity stunt. But if it actually happened (which we have every reason to believe it did) then my point stands.

I do totally agree with you, though, on the "comparative poverty" thing. Fifteen grand in debt? There's a fuck of a lot of people who owe a lot more than that who aren't in line for a decent wage to pay it off with. Is she suggesting that we should sell 'em all off into sex slavery?

As I said, her only "wrongdoing" is free-market capitalism. Generally not frowned on. But there're paths that logic can follow that lead to very bad places.

00:33 / 22.03.04

Although I'm not entirely sure what she was trying to publicise

Well just the story itself, surely? I wonder how much she got for selling the exclusive story, with interview and photo shoot, and if that actually netted more cash than the act itself. Because I wouldn't be, like, surprised. The Sunday tabs are vile, but the NOTW is the vilest of the vile. This is just the kind of lurid bullshit that’d shift a few copies.

But, whoever she is and whatever her background, there aren’t many opportunities in life to make that much money in a single night. Or even in a single hour. Or however long her winner takes.

12:45 / 22.03.04

Forgive my ignorance, but is prostitution legal in the UK, then?

13:47 / 22.03.04

I think prostitution itself is legal...it's not legal to solicit or run a brothel. Which raises the question of whether this girl will now be taken to court for soliciting. I haven't seen any mention of this, but surely some authority or another must be taking note?