One of the trends in recent years is the elevation of women who formerly lead sexually depraved lives becoming Christian influencers. As hookup culture and OnlyFans have become ubiquitous, it is not surprising that there are conversions that arise from those with these sins in their pasts, yet there arise issues with platforming former whores which presents perverse incentives to remain influencers. Former OnlyFans creator Nala monetized her “conversion” into access to the speaker circuit and briefly selling life-coaching services. Brittni De La Mora brands herself as a pastor while leading a ministry with questionable outreach methods to porn stars. In a world where internet celebrity is desired, this means that Christianity becomes the content for those who should instead be leading quiet lives of repentance.
This is where Kelsey Daniels factors in as another former prostitute who has risen to prominence from her conversion. She recently appeared on Rise Above with Kevin Lanning which is a podcast that shares stories of overcoming addiction, trauma, and similar tragedies. Lanning functions as the Joe Rogan or Bryce Crawford of addiction recovery podcasts and has amassed over 300K subscribers on YouTube. Daniels’s story is unfortunate, but at times she absolves herself of her sins by redefining her sexual sin as rape. The episode even is entitled “I was sold for sex and had no say” which implies sex trafficking, but this is a misinterpretation of what happened and frames her as having no agency in her sin.
The podcast begins with Daniels giving an account of her childhood, claiming that at eight she was molested by her neighbor, who was an older man. She says little of the encounter other than that he lured her and exposed himself. However, she also claims that this memory was repressed, which introduces the possibility that it is inauthentic since “repressed memories” can be fabricated. Childhood molestation does align with the pattern of sexual sin later in life.
Then she claims that she was raped at sixteen. In this story, she claims that she and a high school senior skipped class, with her thinking they were going to get Subway, only that he instead took her back to his place where they had sex. She claims that this was rape. At the time, she argues that she was broken up since they returned to school and she felt out of it while giving a Spanish presentation, but she did tell others at the time that she ditched class to hang out with the guy, implying that they had sex, not that it was consensual. This is an example of “retroactive regret” becoming labeled as rape. It’s often because fornication is wrong and something people feel guilty over.
She then describes her transformation into “the party girl” leading into her college experience. Her mother once slut-shamed her after reading messages relating to her drinking and partying with college kids. She eventually ends up as a division one lacrosse player at UConn, where partying and other mental disturbances inhibited her college career.
She claims she got into prostitution because a professor, whom she was infatuated with, glamorized the economics of sugar dating for college girls. Through a sugar daddy websites, she finds a suitor who pays her $500 semi-consistently. She claims her first sugar daddy assaulted her during a date because she had half a bottle of wine. This coincides with labeling drunkenness or intoxication as removing one’s ability to consent, but it also redefines exactly what she was doing—which was prostituting herself. Selling oneself is not the same as being assaulted. She continued with this “John” for some time, eventually ending it because he was into three-ways. Sugar Daddy websites are a thing and tend to host some freaky types.
She then describes a bar owner who was pimping her to numerous people, including a Connecticut State Trooper, who she also claims raped her while she was functionally a prostitute. She claims that these people trafficked her, but also stated that she did not realize that she was trafficked until years after the fact. During this time, she was also drinking and doing cocaine. She was even seeing a guy romantically while persisting in prostitution, with the guy becoming “possessive” when he became suspicious of her activities.
Her conversion to Christianity was more of a process. She describes doing escort-type services and meeting with a married Christian who did not have sex with her, but “talked.” He gave her a Bible, which she did read, but she described the relationship as an “emotional affair.” It is a strange facet of the story because the man’s actions are entirely inappropriate while his payment to the prostitute constitutes moral hazard, regardless of his missional approach. It also could be that he was tempted to commit adultery but, upon conviction, could not see it through, but his “dates” with Daniels were multiple.
In Brittni De La Mora’s story, she proceeded to do a porno after claiming to be converted because she needed the money, which has its parallels in Daniels’s story where she continued to prostitute herself after finding Christianity before she resituated herself where she could not be tempted to fall back into it. She does describe that God convicted her of porn which she managed to quit cold turkey.
The problem with the interview is that she is functionally redefining herself as a victim of sex trafficking and rapes that are either fornication or prostitution. There are real rape victims that exist, but feeling shame for skipping class to have sex with a high school senior is not rape, especially when you tell other people through AIM that it happened.
Having a bad experience while being a hooker is also not rape, but the fruit of one’s sin. She is not a victim because a “john” wanted to have a three way and made her uncomfortable or a state trooper who repeatedly paid her for services had sex with her in a bathroom, especially when the dog kept returning to her vomit.
Kelsey Daniels has several books highlighting her story and escape from that lifestyle, but overall, she is failing to understand the full weight of her actions and is playing the victim for her sexual sin which she willfully participated in. This is especially true for the sins of women, who tend not to be the most reliable narrators of events. Nobody would claim that a drug-addicted man giving head to feed his addiction was “raped.” Regret is not rape. Prostituting yourself is not the same as being trafficked against your will.
The reason rape is considered a serious crime is because it is a violation of chastity predicated upon the expectation that unmarried women were virgins. This is why sexually depraved societies, like those in sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East, have actual rape cultures, especially towards children. The absence of sexual purity in such cultures reduces rape to theft or in the case of prostitution, shoplifting. In her situation, she kept going back to her so-called rapists.
Overall, this exemplifies the problem with the prostitute to Christian influencer pipeline. Sin will make one do things they did not want to do, but that does not make one a victim; it further exemplifies the work of Christ and furthers the forgiveness and sanctification that is received by the believer. One should view with severity their sin from which they were forgiven. One should not redefine their actions ex post facto to be non-sinful. Turning regrets into rape diminishes the works of Christ in one’s life and sets a negative example in public witness.
