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November 07, 2008

The new face of feminism?

Posted by Melissa Wilson at 11:18 AM ET

With minimum wage raising at a snail's pace as compared to tuition fees (not to mention rent and groceries) and student loan agencies notoriously random with handouts, student across the country submit to myriad wacky plans to keep their cupboards stocked with tomato soup and ramen noodles. I, myself, have been known to dole out balloons and extra ice cream scoops at the pizza joint that I waitress at in hopes that the kids' parents will leave me a hefty tip.

It seems 22-year-old Natalie Dylan (not her real name) of Sacramento, California, is one step ahead of me in that she's auctioning off her virginity in order to pay for grad school.

Already saddled with a degree in Women's Studies (seriously), Dylan is hoping to grab a cool million for her cherry, to be offered up at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada.

Are tuition fees really that high in the U.S.? Where's President-elect Obama on this one?

Dylan is quoted as saying, "We live in a capitalist society. Why shouldn't I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?"

Of all the comments and criticisms that have been hurled at Dylan, my favourite was someone who referred to the plan as "the ultimate act of feminism." Oddly enough, I heard a friend of mine say something similar in regards to her plans to graduate university, get married, have babies and stay at home and raise them.

Never one to qualify myself a feminist in any way, with This Mag's current cover story, 'The New Face of Porn,' the comment got me thinking: has all the bra-burning and business-suiting of the 1960s been watered down to a laissez-faire feminist culture (Sarah Palin definitely knocked us women down a few pegs) or is the simple act of choice what the first-wavers were lobbying for all along?

Is choosing to auction off one's virtue the epitome of feminism, or the antithesis of it?

A video of Natalie Dylan on CNN, after the jump.

More entries on: Feminism

Previous: CNN fakes their holograms
Next: Classic This: "Pornography: A Feminist View"

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Reader comments:

Melissa, you state near the end that you're "Never one to qualify myself a feminist in any way".

Seriously? Is this a generational thing, this rejection of "feminism" among young women?

Posted by: Graham at November 7, 2008 12:08 PM

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I don't know that it's a generational thing as I have a number of friends who all identify with all different shades of feminism. I've just never been particularly interested in the topic.

I'm all for equal-rights, equal-pay, equal-opportunity and all that, but I suppose instead of considering that "feminism," I consider it, "the norm."

Posted by: Melissa at November 7, 2008 12:18 PM

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Is choosing to auction off one's virtue the epitome of feminism, or the antithesis of it?

I don't think it's either. The feminism that I believe in fights for the rights of women to do what they will with their own bodies, even when it means doing things that we may think are gross. The feminism that I have come to know (and love!) is also against moralistic values placed on women's bodies, sexuality and sexual acts (between consenting adults).

If Natalie Dylan wants to auction off her hymen to pay for student loans, then great! That's pretty resourceful, if you ask me. If she wants to call it a feminist act, then who am I to judge? And maybe more importantly, who is someone who doesn't identify as a feminist to judge?

Posted by: Alison Lee at November 7, 2008 03:57 PM

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We should probably ask ourselves why Dylan is auctioning her body though. It's very possible she's doing it for reasons most of us would not consider feminist. Like, she might believe a woman's only asset is her body. The whole thing looks very un-feminist to me.

P.S. I'm a man: I should not be opining on feminism and a woman's use of her body.

Posted by: Daniel at November 7, 2008 05:20 PM

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