A 28-year-old medical school student who had planned to auction off her virginity on the internet and had received a high bid of $801,000 now says she won’t go ahead with her part of the bargain.
In a blog post today, the student, who goes by the name ‘Elizabeth Raine,’ writes that she won’t fulfil the terms of the auction as she wants to focus on her medical studies instead.
‘With the blessings of my management and the high bidders, I have decided to put a stop to this kerfuffle (to describe it nicely) and return my focus to my medical training,’ Raine wrote, according to Gawker. ‘I still do possess some spitefully strong beliefs about virginity, prostitution, and a woman’s right to do as she damned pleases, but school is my first priority (as it has been for my entire life).
‘At this point, I no longer care about the auction, at all. This was a very easy decision.’
While Raine initially said she was selling her virginity for the money, in recent days, her tone had changed and become more political.
‘It is no longer about the money,’ she wrote recently. ‘Instead, very broadly, it is about how society continues to exercise control over female sexuality by chaining it tightly to female morality.
‘It is about the fact that we have not left patriarchy in the past (we all know male morality is not judged by the same standard), and that a woman still cannot chose to do with her body what she pleases without eliciting condemnation and hate from those (or some of those) around her.’
Raine launched her online auction on March 31 and initially hid her face to conceal her identity before later deciding it would help convince skeptical customers.
Initially, she said she wanted to do the auction as she is also attracted by the adventure, eroticism, scandal and the chance to challenge norms about virginity.
At the time, she added that she’s been planning the auction for a year and it’s transformed her, making her more educated about prostitution, virginity and ‘slut-shaming.’
Raine told the Huffington Post she was born in the southwest but spent much of her childhood in Saudi Arabia because of her dad’s job in the oil industry.
Her mum died when she was 10, which was tragic but the trauma is not the reason she is choosing this path to riches.
She told news website that she’s still a virgin because sex and relationships came second to school work and other commitments.
‘I have a busy life. I am picky and guys were never a priority,’ she said.
If she had gone through with the deal, the sex would have taken place in Australia because prostitution is illegal in the U.S.
