The Real Cost of a Virgin Bride

Hi,

Dowries are still the norm in Asia and the Far east for high class weddings between important families.

I actually think dowries are a good thing. Attaching money to a wedding is a kind of insurance policy, and in countries where women are an underclass it has to be good for a lady to point at her price tag and know her worth.

In the news today was the first negative dowry I have ever seen. Simply put the wedding was drawn up on paper, the couple decided not to wait, and then his parents walked away from the ceremony.

So the bride's family are suing for over AUD 1 million because of her loss of virginity.

This is obviously not about the loss of status, or the cost of a repair job. It is about the loss of an expensive commodity.

Let's face it this kind of commodity has retailed at a premium for all of recorded history. In western Europe it is probably too rare to price, with recent stats showing on 4% of 24 year olds are virgins.

So should we be putting price tags on abstinence and clean behaviour?

If these items were traded I know for sure that their value would vary widely depending on where they were sold.

So I foresee an international market in these commodities with healthy, virginal, sane, men and women fetching a high price.

Whether anyone would qualify for the "sane" category is another matter entirely.

NP out