Virgin for sale to pay mother's medical bills

[emad]

Giles Tremlett
Sunday April 17, 2005
The Observer

When Graciela Yataco scoured her home in Lima's poor San Diego area to see what she could sell to pay her mother's medical bills, she decided the only thing of any value was her own virginity.

So 18-year-old Graciela advertised it for sale in a newspaper for 20,000 soles, about £5,000.

The advert has provoked a storm of indignation in Peru, where saving Graciela's virginity has become a question of national pride - while the reasons why she feels forced to sell it are largely ignored.

'It hurts me to see mama ill and crying every night,' she told the local Trome newspaper. 'I live with my brothers and sisters in complete misery, and I do not have a job that would allow me to help my family out.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1461653,00.html

[undergroundpanther]

1. If people are poor enough

The porn industry thrives.

I hate it when people say"its her choice" in America when porn is discussed.Sorry it's often~too often exploitation.
This girl she does not wanna sell her virginity but she is desperate.
The fact her families poverty is being ignored..telling.

Just like self absorbed people in America do, likewise in {Peru the argument is over"National Pride") Too many comfortable people can so easily ignore the fact poverty hurts and it can make people do desperate things. When you see some prostitutes or porn actors in glossy magazines or on video what you do not see is that they too often are desperate,addicted, or in a desperate situation, that is being exploited.
Poverty,drugs,and domestic abuse in childhood or adulthood benefits people who consume porn..
I bet if people didn't abuse kids abuse each other, human trafficking was stopped cold, and nobody was made desperate poor and drug addicts could get help..easily and people were educated early on,and had some sort of emotional support they could trust..I bet there would be a lot less porn and porn would be ethically cleaner because only the volunteers would do it.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. You make excellent points

Porn and prostitution are not always a choice and poverty plays into it heavily. Witness, for example, all the porn coming from Eastern Europe.

That said, thank you for not comdemning all porn (or all prostitution). It is a real industry and there are real people in it who make a rational and reasoned choice to be a part of it. They sell a product for which there is a huge market. It should be no dishonor, and is not exploitation, for these people. This is not a black and white issue.

I agree completely with you about this particular young woman's case .... the real issue is the poverty she and her family must endure. I wonder if there would be any outrage about this if, instead of selling her virginity, she had volunteered to be a mercenary for some invading army willing to pay 10 times what a conscripted soldier gets.

[area51]

3. universal healthcare

Unfortunately, another country like the U.S., unwilling to wisely use tax dollars for universal healthcare. No one should have to do this.


-------------
"Prosperity is just around the corner." — Herbert Hoover
"The economy has turned a corner." — GW Bush

Herbert Hoover = GW Bush

Neither man cared about the Depression their economic policies created.

[BlueIris]

4. This article makes me cry.

For all the reasons it might make a person cry...a lot. Dear GOD. It's shutting my brain down.

[Joey Liberal]

5. That's a fair price!

Just kidding:)............

[Mnemosyne]

6. The same reason I know at least 10 kids under age 25

in this area that have signed up as the Lunatic's cannon fodder in Iraq, desperation and poverty.

How sad, but hopefully she will not end up dead from her choice.

Thanks for the post emad.

[ninkasi]

7. In Peru, as in the United States

People will get all worked up over issues that seem to harm their perceptions of "National Pride." Since the outcry is over what this poor young woman is willing to sacrifice for her mother, the issue should be "National Shame" that any person should be forced to make such a choice.

If some very poor countries such as Cuba can afford national health care, why can't we? There will come, at some point in the future, an enormous battle between rich and poor. The gaps are too wide, and are widening further.

People who have no work, no money, no food, no health care, no decent housing, will at some point decide that they indeed have nothing to lose by trying to simply taking it, using whatever means necessary.

My own feeling is that, as highly prized as a young woman's virginity is in some cultures,that this young lady is willing to sacrifice, for her mother, something that may very well prevent her from future marriage seems to me to embody the true nature of sacrifice.

The indignation should be about the plight of the poor, instead of the poor girl's choice to sell the only this she has of value. I can only hope that some wealthy countryman will pay her the money to keep her virginity intact; that would be a gesture which would solve the "National Pride" that seems to have become the issue.

[Bigmack]

8. Hey... most Americans are being fucked...

... and they don't even get paid! (Dark sarcasm alert)

Actually, most Americans have more choice of action than this poor little girl, but large numbers of them voted to re-elect the pervert who keeps sticking it to them.

[NashVegas]

9. Someone's Gonna Make a Movie About This

just wait.

[msongs]

10. Chile has wonderful family values, must be all that religion eh?

maybe Saint Diego will come back from wherever he/she/it is to help out.

Msongs
www.msongs.com