How do you raise money for poor families in Brazil? Auction off your virginity, apparently. That’s what 20-year-old Catarina Migliorini did. To her it was a business decision all for charity, not for profit or self-promotion. She insists she isn’t a prostitute and believes in love. She claims the money raised will help create housing for the poor in her home town of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Although she says she isn’t doing it for personal gain, it’s been reported that she will get $20,000 for the sale of her virginity, along with 90 per cent of the money raised. It isn’t clear how much she is going to donate to charity.

Her auction is part of a documentary film, “Virgins Wanted” where both male and female virgins attempt to sell their virginity. The highest offer so far: $190,000. Another volunteer, Alex Stepanov, a male, is also part of the project. Currently, his highest offer is $1,300. Apparently, Migliorini will be ‘tested’ by a gynecologist to see if she really is a virgin.

Once the deals are official, the virgins will be deflowered on a private plane flying from Australia to the US, a loophole to circumvent the laws against what is basically prostitution for a good cause. The winning bidder will be checked for STI’s and must agree to wear a condom during the act.

A creative way to help the impovished? Or an insult to those who use professional fund-raising tactics? While the filmmaker, Justin Sisely, says the project is all on the up-and-up, people are skeptical, comparing it to similar hoaxes that have occurred in the past, such as the 1998 “Internet Virgins” hoax where two virgins were supposedly going to pop each other’s cherries. Sisely argues his project is a cinematic exploration about transforming life.
Bidding is set to close in mid-October.