A Brazilian student is auctioning off her virginity to the highest bidder to raise cash to build homes for poverty-stricken families.

Catarina Migliorini, 20, is set to put the money – currently standing at $155,000 – into a non-governmental organization which will construct modern houses in her southern Brazilian home state of Santa Catarina.

Rejecting claims she is a prostitute, she said she still believed in love but saw the opportunity to make a positive difference to the world.

But the physical education student has sparked controversy because she will be followed every step of the way by an Australian film crew for a documentary film called Virgins Wanted.

She said: ‘I saw this as a business. I have the opportunity to travel, to be part of a movie and get a bonus with it.

‘If you only do it once in your life then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer.

‘The auction is just business, I’m a romantic girl at heart and believe in love. But this will make a big difference to my area,’  she told Folha newspaper.

Catarina, who is of Italian descent, signed up to the project two years ago when she saw an advert by Thomas William Productions looking for a virgin to film.

Director Justin Sisely will record her emotions before and after her first sexual encounter. A male virgin called Alexander is also being followed.

She will receive $20,000 and 90 per cent of the final auction sale price, which ends on October 15.

The winner will be tested for sexually transmitted diseases prior to the encounter which will take place on-board a plane, leaving from Australia to the US, in a bid to circumvent prostitution laws.

A condom will be compulsory, with Catarina saying she was prepared to prove to any skeptics that she has not had sex before.

Source