Virginity Auction Passes $275,000

A hurricane of media coverage is swirling around a Sacramento State graduate who is auctioning off her virginity.The 22-year-old, who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for safety reasons, announced the decision to sell her v-card on the Howard Stern radio show on Sept. 9."We live in a capitalist society," Dylan said on the show. "Why shouldn't I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?"Dennis Hof, owner of the Nevada brothel Moonlite Bunny Ranch, brought Dylan to Stern's attention. Dylan approached Hof with her sister, Avia, who worked at Hof's ranch for three weeks two years ago."I've seen a lot of crazy things, but this is very unique," Hof said in a phone interview.With hundreds of offers already and bidding up to $275,000, Hof also claimed that a "rock star" and a "well-known male actor" contacted him and told him that they would outbid any other offers.The amount of media attention did not surprise Hof, but Dylan, who could not be reached for comment, told CBS13 News that the coverage was a little overwhelming."I didn't expect it to take off this much," Dylan said. "I'm a big fan of anonymity and I did not expect any of this happen."Hof said that Dylan had already passed a polygraph test verifying the authenticity of her chastity, but added that she is also willing to submit to a physical examination."I think I'm very intuitive and I can sense if a person is genuine or not, so I'm definitely going to be looking for that," Dylan told CBS13 News.Dylan said she first got the idea to auction her virginity from a news story she read on the Internet about a Peruvian girl who attempted a similar cash out. The girl received an offer for $1.5 million from a Canadian man, but didn't go through with it. Dylan is pursuing the idea largely because of debt incurred when her father allegedly took out student loans in her name.Dylan earned her bachelor's degree in women's studies from Sacramento State and said she plans to use the money to finance her graduate studies in marriage and family therapy.Hof defended Dylan's choice to put herself out in the public and said that he wouldn't be surprised to see more of this in the future. "Once you get past the moral issue, all this is is a girl trying to get through school," Hof said.The auction will be conducted through and consummated at the Bunny Ranch, Hof said. Hof stands to receive 50 percent of the winning bid, but was uncertain how much the auction would pull in."I don't have any idea, but it's gonna be a bunch," Hof said. "Maybe you should get the school-get everybody to kick in (some money) and send the homecoming king down here."