An 18-year-old university student in Germany auctioned her virginity on the Internet, only to lose the majority of her profit to taxes levied after the fact. The girl, Alina Percea, earned more than $17,000 for selling her virginity, but after the 50 percent tax plus another possible 19 percent "value added" tax, because the money was earned in such a short time, the young entrepreneur could be left with just over $6,000.

The winning bidder was a 45-year-old Italian business man from Bologna, who flew Ms. Percea to Venice, where they reportedly had a wonderful weekend. Ms. Percea even told reporters that next time, she won't make him pay.

Ms. Percea was inspired to sell her virginity after reading about a 22-year-old California woman who put her virginity up for sale last fall. Natalie Dylan received thousands of bids reaching upwards of $4 million before she finally sealed the deal at Nevada's Moonlite Bunny Ranch, where her older sister worked and funded her education. The younger Dylan graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in women's studies, and says she intends to use the money from her virginity to pay for her graduate studies in family and marriage therapy -- with some left over, obviously.

I'm torn on this one. While it seems like prostitution and has some troubling implications, there's also something empowered and inspiring in these young women's choice to auction off something that society may deem sacred, but that ultimately belongs to the individual. In other words, whose body is it, anyway?

[Image: Alina Percea]