I once seriously considered becoming a lap dancer but God later revealed to me the sacredness of my sexuality

Lily Phillips is not your average 23 year old. She is a Porn Star and Content Creator for OnlyFans, most known for sleeping with 101 men, in one day.

For anyone, not in the know, OnlyFans is an adult platform, established in 2016, where users predominantly buy and sell sexually explicit content. The majority of content makers are women and there is a huge amount of money to be made from the platform.

Since being on OnlyFans, Lily’s popularity has skyrocketed.

Since being on OnlyFans, Lily’s popularity has skyrocketed. Not only because of her openness, but also due to her X-rated content. One for pushing boundaries, she is now seeking to break further records by sleeping with 1000 men in 24 hours. And as someone who has been promiscuous ever since losing her virginity at the age of 17, she has evolved to comfortably engaging in sex work, because ultimately it’s  “just t**s, and everyone has sex.”

As shocking as Lily’s outlook may seem to the average Christian, if truth be told, at one point in my life, I may have thought along similar lines. Because just like Lily, I lost my virginity at the age of 17. I also subsequently became super promiscuous. One night stands became everyday life. Pushing boundaries was my thing. Going to strip clubs with the guys after work was exciting. Seeing beautifully groomed girls seductively parading their almost naked bodies, offering tantalising lap dances to men drooling with desire for them, even seemed to me, an aspiring profession.

In fact it was so attractive to me, that I seriously contemplated becoming a lap dancer.

In fact it was so attractive to me, that I seriously contemplated becoming a lap dancer. And I recall a time many moons ago, when I was only a little older than Lily, scanning the local newspapers, puffing on a cigarette and jotting down numbers for potential strip clubs to work in. I convinced myself that using my body on my terms, having sex with no strings attached and being endlessly desired, was empowering. And ultimately sex work wasn’t a big deal, because sex was just sex. In my deception, I had no idea what a lie I was believing.

Perhaps the only difference between me and Lily was that before I could even ring up a single Strip Club or fully respond to the enticement of the sex industry beckoning me, Jesus in his great grace and mercy, saved me. He then revealed to me just how sacred my sexuality was and how precious my body was. A body, lovingly created by him, not for mere lust, but rather for the highest, most exquisite, divine kind of love.

Yet the sobering reality is that the pull of the sex industry is more alluring and seductive than ever before. And millions of women are believing the same lie that I, much like Lily, once believed. The lie that says objectifying our bodies is powerful. And that sex is just sex. And that our sexualities are commodities, to buy and to sell. Therefore, unsurprisingly, innumerable women are now choosing Porn, stripping and celebrity-endorsed, seemingly lucrative platforms, such as OnlyFans as superior professions.

As a Strip Club Chaplain I have personally spoken with countless, beautiful, highly intelligent, ambitious women who are proud to be in the sex industry, even if it’s just temporarily. No longer stigmatised with shame, such professions are now increasingly deemed as empowering choices that afford women Gram-worthy lifestyles and the ability to monetise sexuality on their terms. And it literally breaks my heart - because I know first-hand what it is to believe a lie. Yet, by God’s grace, I also know first-hand, what is it to be set free from such deception.

And so my prayer today, not just for Lily, but for all the women of this generation, is that no matter how prevalent the lies that engulf our sexually broken world might be, that we would be brought into the most glorious revelation of dignity, sacredness, worth and beauty, found in our precious God-designed bodies. Created by God - not for lust or objectification - but for the highest, most exquisite, divine kind of love, that he longs for us all to experience.