In a time of dire need what would you do for money? In Natalie Dylan’s case, she fell into over one hundred thousand dollars in debt due to fraudulent student loans filed by her father. Out of desperation, Natalie decided to auction off her virginity online. One feminist expert, Iris Leos Hickenbottom, says that women often ‘’ move into prostitution due to economic needs like poverty, emotional neediness and susceptibility to pressure from friends.’’ I strongly disagree with Natalie Dylan’s actions. This is a backwards step for women’s rights, and only reinforces that some women use sex to their advantage, and are viewed as an object rather than a person.
Among other and contrary reasons for why Natalie should not auction her virginity are moralistic substances as well as reputational status. Morally, Natalie is giving off her body in a sexual act, which is dishonorable to her as well as many other women in the fact that she is giving away something so precious to most women for money and subjecting herself to moral bribery due to the fact that her morals are compromised by the money she apparently needs to pay off debts. Natalie is losing a part of herself as a woman. By reputational means, Natalie is dishonoring herself among her peers (other women) and any future man who may fall in love with her someday. This is extremely unfortunate. Natalie’s risks of selling her virginity continue in her plight of risking herself to sexual diseases. In addition, Natalie is taking the easy way out with an unfair advantage to cure her debt. Natalie does not know anything about who the highest bidder may be, and what potential STD’s she may contract. This is an unfair advantage due to the fact that while other people work hard to cure college debt, etc. Natalie is literally “screwing” herself out of debt. Natalie also is opening herself to a stranger in a potentially harmful environment. She has no proof to say that whoever wins the bid will not try to physically, sexually, or emotionally assault her. She is subject to possible violence. Natalie is spitting in the face of women’s rights and proving herself no better than any prostitute that one could find working on a street corner for a good night’s pay. The only difference is that Natalie is operating on a more sophisticated basis. Natalie is simply ruining a pleasurable part of life known no other than as sex.
ReplyDeleteMs. Dylan has the right to do with her body as she pleases within the realm of the legal system. Her decision to sell her virginity gives her the ability to promote herself further in her education and possibly future career. She is of age to make a genuine conscious decision realizing the benefits and consequences of this deal. If she can obtain such a large sum of money by selling her virginity, then more power to her. That is easy, quick, money that she will use to benefit herself in a good way. It’s not for drugs, or a pimp, or to buy a nice car, it is so she can finish her degree and to alleviate her enormous debt. Ms. Dylan is a very dedicated individual, having gone through several years of college to earn a degree, and now has the potential for all that effort to be in vain. Dylan isn’t robbing a bank or committing some heinous crime, she wants to better herself. And by making over a million dollars in a matter of an hour or two, legally, is a very good way to do it. Having a debt that is larger than what some Americans make in a year can be very unbearable and cause much unneeded stress. This stress can be very detrimental to her health. Overtime this can cause severe mental issues such as depression, also physical issues like fatigue, aches and pains.
ReplyDeleteMs. Dylan did this for a very selfish reason. When she was taking this “mission” she was only thinking about herself and she was not thinking about anyone else who was involved in this situation. Ms. Dylan does realize that she could spread some very dangerous diseases. For example, she can give Joe Schmoe HIV or AIDS and not even realize it. Prostitution is only legal in one state and that state is Nevada. Of course the state that she decided to do this was in the state of Nevada. For most people this would be against their religion. It is wrong to do become sexually active with someone who you are not in love with. If everyone would do this to get the money that they need to pay for something it would be wrong because she has an unfair advantage. The place that she wanted this to happen was at a place where her sisters use to work. She would know everyone who she would have to know in order to make this happen.
ReplyDeleteOverall, it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that selling your virginity to get through college is just unacceptable. Once you get past the blatantly obvious fact that prostitution in the United States is illegal in forty nine states, you can move onto the fact that it is a morally wrong choice. If everyone could just get up and sell their virginity (which is a one-time purchase), the world would be full of more scandals, crime, and cheated people. Young women would become objectified as nothing more than expensive possessions, causing a high decline in the so strongly fought for women's rights. There's absolutely no way that this is right, acceptable, or even morally fathomable. This is an unfair advantage financially, and especially for someone who is going to be studying women's rights. Morally, financially, and legally, this woman is beyond any form of being in the right, and should pay the consequences as such.
ReplyDeleteMs. Dylan is sending out a very negative message in many aspects by conducting herself this way. For many moral, ethical, and social reasons people should not sell such parts of their bodies. By selling her virginity Dylan is making a statement about herself. She does not believe that her virginity is that serious of an issue otherwise there would not be a “game” of selling it. There are numerous and uncountable ways to obtain money to pay off a debt. Some may argue that she is showing great care essentially because she is trading her virginity for her education. But is that the message we want all the teenage girls in America to receive? Want a degree, go sell yourself. This is a problem of influence on the public. Our society as a whole just does not support those types of decisions to sell oneself for any reason. Most parents out there would be horrified once they learned that their child was doing this to ultimately pay for school or other things. Ms. Dylan is prostituting herself when there are more reasonable ways to remedy the situation. A good lawyer could solve her debt problem. If her problems were those of legality then she should rely on the legal system to rectify the problem. $100,000 is a lot of money for anyone to owe but if it was illegally obtained in your name than why hold yourself accountable? She could also get a job and pay it off over time. The taste of quick money isn’t always a good thing. Who’s to say she will stop? Or even if she does will any of the other girls she has influence stop once they have “reached their goals”? Research on prostitution shows that the people involved in prostitution are ones of troubled backgrounds who display symptoms of PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Almost half of the prostitutes interviewed in a survey said they were physically assaulted as children, and more than half sexually assaulted. There is an underlying trend in why these people are doing what they are doing. Is Ms. Dylan a victim of the past and she is now displaying how she perceives sexual values to be? Prostitution is the one of the oldest professions known to man but does that mean that since it has been around so long, the problems associated with it have been worked out and everything between everyone is dandy now? No, we still have all the common problems such as disease, violence (physical and sexual), economic issues, and social issues that go along with it. It is not an accepted thing to do for any reason by the majority of society, and Ms. Dylan may have some hidden reasons for doing such a thing that we do not know about which play a factor in the reasonability of this extreme and rash decision.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with David Sawyers comments. Ms. Dylan is an adult who can choose to do whatever she pleases ( as long as its legal) and people should not judge her by this.
ReplyDeleteWell, does it really move women backwards or does it show how piggish men are?
ReplyDeletelike this girl has to pay for college some way, and what a better way? she has to just lay there and then get money. like hello,this girl is a genius!
every person uses what they are best at, if prostitutes and this girl use their body to make bank then hey, i dont judge.
Has anyone ever thought of how hard it is for them?
you gotta do what you gotta do, that's all i'm saying. she needed money and did what she thought was the best way to get that money. anonymous needs to chill. seriously, what would you do different?
ReplyDeletei definitely don't agree with her decision to auction off her virginity but, i can kind of understand why she did it. If your in that much debt it's hard to recover from it and i guess that just seemed the easiest way for her to relieve herself from debt.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lauren because of the possible health issues that are possible to occur.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that she should have sold her virginity to pay her debt. Millions of Americans struggle with debt everyday and deal with it in a reasonable manner. Selling your body to the highest bidder is not reasonable at all. Mr. Sawyer mentioned that she is of an age that she should be able to make a good decision. Are we saying that all people make the best decisions for themselves? Think about the people who make unreasonable decisions everyday. Obviously, Natalie Dylan is one of them.
ReplyDeleteI think the women that have financial problems have other options then prostitution. They can easily get a job in Mc Donalds or Burger king, and I believe they become prostitutes because it is easier then working hard “flipping burgers” if they knew how many bad things can happen to them in the streets they stop being lazy and they will get a real job.
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