Abigail didn't share the details about her secret passion project with her father, but she shared:
"Well, colleges look for passion projects now, you know. It's not just about, like, GPA and being captain of volleyball."
Subsequently, Abigail's step-mother, sympathetically shared with Abigail's father:
"She is auctioning off her virginity on the Internet. For Amnesty International; so, it is for a very good cause."
"She's selling her virginity on the Internet?!"
"Good cause?"
Consequently, Abigail's father asked:
"What the fuck! You're selling your virginity?"
"Yeah. I thought you'd be proud of me."
"Proud of you?"
"Yeah. A lot of girls lose their virginity for a lot less."
The following morning, Abigail's father tried to rationalize with her, but she responded:
"Dad, come on. A 16-year-old white girl from Monterey selling her virginity online? Wolf Blitzer would saddle that up for weeks. That's the way."
Wait, did Nabokov write those lines? Wolf [would] blitz her. And saddle that up. For weeks!
Like Demi Moore's mother, it appeared that Abigail's father began to condone teen prostitution. He shared with his ex-wife:
"Abigail is auctioning off her virginity in order to raise money to protest sex slavery. No, I'm being serious. She said if a 7-year-old can be sold to sex slavery, then no one would bat an eye if a white, rich American girl sell hers online."
Saxena wrote in the Elle post "Why Aren't We Talking About Abigail's 'Secret Virginity Project' On Big Little Lies?" (MAR 30, 2017):
[...] Abigail's project raises—about virginity, sex work, and social consciousness—are worthy ones.
When I first watched the episode I, like Madeline and Nathan, thought Abigail's project was a ludicrous, terrible idea [...] I tried to think of what I would say to a hypothetical teenage daughter of mine if she came to me with the same plan. Which is when I realized that I couldn't come up with a great argument.
Like many left-leaning women, I believe in bodily autonomy and that teenage girls are too often shamed for their bodily choices by a patriarchal society. The age of consent in California is 18, but in 31 other states it's 16. Legally Abigail is around the age where she can make this kind of choice. She's old enough and of sound(ish) mind, so by my own logic, she should be able to do what she wants.
Though 44% of people think prostitution should be legal, and Abigail's own chosen charity Amnesty International voted to campaign for the decriminalization of sex work, many people struggle with the idea that someone like Abigail would engage in sex work of their own free will.
Like Abigail's father, Saxena was initially against teen prostitution, but she "couldn't come up with a great argument" against it. And Saxena opined that since Abigail was "around" 18, "she should be able to do what she wants". And Saxena reminded us that: "[...] many people [unjustifiably] struggle with the idea that someone like Abigail would engage in sex work of their own free will." But then Saxena contradicted her entire piece by writing: "It's obvious that her plan is a bad idea." Editor?
Lastly, it's important to remind that Abigail was selling her virginity to get into a good college. To raise awareness for Amnesty International's campaign to decriminalize sex work, was secondary. Remember Abigail shared with her father:
"Well, colleges look for passion projects now, you know. It's not just about, like, GPA and being captain of volleyball."
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