Of the 20 or so women who work at the Kit Kat Ranch, one of Nevada's legal brothels, Katherine Stone is the only virgin.
The 21-year-old has been living there since May, learning the ropes and entertaining “clients” — but not for sex. Instead, Stone is auctioning off her virginity to the highest bidder, and says she wants to save herself for someone special.
Bids for her virginity are reportedly at $400,000, she said.
The unusual arrangement was set up so that Stone, who grew up wanting to become a lawyer, could raise money to help her family, she said.
In December 2014, an electrical fire destroyed her family's Seattle home. They lost everything. Worse yet, the house was uninsured. Stone moved in with relatives for about eight months, but the family continued to struggle with bills.
“For a time, my parents were actually living at the burned-down house,” Stone told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “It was really hard to actually get back on your feet after everything.”
Last summer, she said, she came across the story of Natalie Dylan, a woman who reportedly tried to auction her virginity in 2008 to pay for college. Dylan had orchestrated the online auction through Dennis Hof, a Nevada businessman who owns seven brothels in the state.
So Stone looked up Hof, found his email address and sent him a note. Then she waited.
