This is actually a serious story and according to a BBC Online article, caused a commotion in very catholic Peru, with some arguing the young woman -- who didn't go through with it --  was just carrying out a publicity stunt.

An excerpt:

Inside a tiny breeze block house, beneath the dusty hills on the desert outskirts of Lima, religious paintings like the Virgin and Child and the Sacred Heart share wall space with photographs of a beguiling young woman posing as a model.

Graciela's bid to sell her virginity provoked outrage in Peru

The Bible is open at John, Chapter 11, telling the story of the Resurrection of Lazarus.

Behind the curtains which separate a tiny bedroom from the living room, lies a sick 43-year-old woman, whose daughter, Graciela, is prepared to take drastic measures to help her.

Graciela - or Gracia as she prefers to be known - has been working since the age of eight, left school at 15 and now three years later earns around $60 a month acting or modelling.

Her mother is too sick to work and she does not want her 12-year-old brother to miss school.

But Gracia says the money she earns is not enough and every month she worries about not being able to pay the bills or having to say No when her brother Guillermo comes back from school asking for money for books.

Theirs is a story like thousands of other Peruvians who live in poverty, but for one fact.

I felt the hopelessness of wanting to move forward, wanting to study, and you just don't get the opportunity because it's all about money Graciela Yataco

Last month, Gracia decided to sell her virginity to pay for her mother's medical treatment and to improve her family's quality of life.

"My mother was ill and my brother and me too. [And I felt] the utter hopelessness of wanting to move forward, wanting to study, be someone and you just don't get the opportunity because it's all about money," says Gracia.

"Sometimes you find yourself at a crossroads and you see no way out," she adds, staring at the terracotta painted walls.

"You stop and see there's only thing that's going to help you and perhaps it only has to happen once in your life.

"That's what I thought. And you never have to do it again.

"You have to get on with it, without looking back, because you can study, work with this money and help lots of people who are poor like me."