Natalie Dylan knew exactly what she was getting into when she entered into a partnership with the Bunny Ranch in Nevada to auction off her virginity.

She was just following in the footsteps of big sister Avia, 23, who managed to raise enough money by working at the Bunny Ranch for just a few weeks to live comfortably while pursuing her own degree.

"I was quite shocked at the time when Avia told me she was prepared to sleep with people for money," Natalie admitted to the Daily Mail, "I was 19 then and quite naive and I had no idea about people working in the sex industry. But Avia was determined to raise some money quickly and she researched it all and told me how it could be done safely through a legal brothel. She is very beautiful and confident and so she attracted a lot of clients and made several thousand dollars in just three weeks."

Natalie took a decidedly more academic approach to her foray into prostitution. She began by researching prostitution and virginity for the bachelor’s degree she recently completed in Women’s Studies at San Diego State University.

"I looked at other cases of where women had been paid for their virginity and realized that men were willing to pay large sums in return," Natalie said. So the 22 year-old California native went ahead and decided to auction off her virginity, but even she has been shocked by the enormous response. Since announcing her auction in September of 2008 on the Howard Stern Show, there has been an outpouring of interest and to date there have been about 10,000 bids, currently topping out at 3.7 million dollars.

"I am shocked by how far this has gone," Natalie mused, "I didn't expect so many people to bid for me, or for the amounts to be so high. I think it's become some kind of competition between all these men. It's like a contest they all want to win."

Natalie intends on thoroughly screening the top bidder and won’t follow through on the plan unless she feels completely comfortable with the man. 'I've been getting to know the men who are bidding and I'm having email conversations with them,” she said, “I've had such a range of messages, from weirdos who say they love me, to those who get really graphically sexual about what they want to do to me. I'm also getting lots of polite requests from rich businessmen.”

“I know that a lot of people will condemn me for this because it's so taboo but I really don't have a problem with that,' she added.

Natalie wants to use the money from her auction to further her studies and plans on pursuing a Master Degree in Family and Marriage Counseling. While we marvel at the irony of it all, Natalie has been moving forward with her scheme submitting to two lie detector tests and a medical hymen exam to prove her virginity.

Tell us: What do you think about Natalie's plan? Barrier breaking feminist hero? Or just another fancy, high priced prostitute?