Women who sell their virginity and the news media who love them

Every now and then a young woman makes headlines for wanting to sell her virginity to the highest bidder.
Most recently, Elizabeth Raine, a 28-year-old medical school student, put her virginity up for auction. The current high bid is $550,000. Bidding closes on May 7.
To get around U.S. laws prohibiting prostitution, the paid sex act will take place in Australia, where it is legal, according to the Huffington Post.
Raine has a website, a Twitter feed and a blog called Musings of a Virgin Whore.
There have been other high-profile cases of women auctioning their virginity. But many were never consummated.
Update (May 17, 2014): Raine canceled the auction after receiving few legitimate bids, according to the Daily Mail.
Last year, a 21-year-old Brazilian woman, Catarina Migliorini, tried to auction her virginity. But the deal never happened and she felt exploited by the man handling the auction, according to the Huffington Post.
In 2008, a 22-year-old San Diego woman named Natalie Dylan put her virginity up for auction. She wrote on the Daily Beast in 2009 that the bidding reached $3.8 million. Reports later surfaced that the whole thing may have been a hoax, the Mirror reported.
Other young ladies who have made headlines for auctioning their virginity include an 18-year-old Russian woman Shatuniha and an 18-year-old Romanian woman Alina Percea.
Shatuniha reportedly got about $28,000 for her cherry in October 2013, the Mirror and Huffington Post reported. Percea banked about $13,000 for her deflowering in May 2009, the Daily Mail reported.
A Wikipedia entry on “virginity auction” lists 15 newsworthy cases. It says seven were not completed and two were likely hoaxes. Of the rest, two were reportedly completed, three unconfirmed and one (Raine) is in progress.
These cases raise some interesting questions: Why is having sex with a female virgin considered to be such a valuable commodity? Who are these men who place such a high price on it? Why is the media so fascinated with these stories, even though most appear to be hoaxes or publicity stunts?
Well, I can answer the last one. Sex sells. News articles on women who auction off their virginity are titillating and attract attention, especially if there are sexy photos.

Photos: Elizabeth Raine (top) and Shatuniha.