I was in a very dark place in my old job torturing men who got off on being abused… but at my weakest and I found my real calling as a Sunday school teacher

A sex worker who specializes in BDSM and torture has given up her life of ‘sin’ to become a Sunday school teacher – and says parents are her biggest supporters.

Retired Sydney escort Tessa Williams, 45, worked under the name Contessa Doll for 15 years before finding God during the 2021 lockdown.

She has now exchanged whips and chains on client bookings for Bible talks and sermons at Echo Church in Sydney’s south-west and was baptized in March last year.

‘God saved me from a very dark place and completely changed my life. My body now belongs to God.”

Former Sydney escort Tessa Williams, 45, worked under the name Contessa Doll for 15 years before finding God during the 2021 lockdown

Tessa is now also studying business, working as a medical receptionist – and supporting sex workers trying to leave the adult industry. Sunday school parents are even making food parcels to take to struggling sex workers.

“The parents at church have never condemned anyone in the adult industry. Parents see how I interact with the children; I love them, and they love me. I feel less stigma and judgment in my church than anywhere else in society. I’ve never felt so much love.’

It was during the lockdown in 2021 that Tessa was at her lowest point.

‘I struggled with money, I had difficult relationships in the adult industry and with my family. The lockdown meant I couldn’t work, even though the work was there.

“I remember getting down on my knees crying and praying for God to help me, when I heard a voice say, don’t give up.” All I felt was that everything would be okay. Things immediately changed and I started reading the Bible.”

She has now exchanged whips and chains on client bookings for Bible talks and sermons at Echo Church in Sydney’s south-west and was baptized in March last year

Then, on her daily walk, she walked past a church where she heard the message “You Belong Here” coming from a loudspeaker inside.

‘I felt it spoke to me. I was too nervous to go in at the time, but I went back the next week, walked in and was immediately greeted with happy faces and friendly people. I told the pastor my story, that I was a sex worker, and she hugged me. ‘You are with us now. You have a great testimony.” I never felt judged.’

Tessa started going to church every week and was eventually baptized last March. “God saved me from a toxic lifestyle of addiction, reconnected me with my Christian family, and showed me a love I never knew existed.”

It’s a far cry from her life as one of Australia’s most popular BDSM escorts, where she was paid $800 an hour to torture men with whips, chains and electric rods.

Then, on her daily walk, she walked past a church where she heard the message “You Belong Here” coming from a loudspeaker inside.

‘One client wanted me to insert an electric rod into his urethra and nipples while he confessed his sins, another relied on stories about serial killers. These were all professional, respectable businessmen.”

A woman in her eighties booked Tessa to beat her elderly husband because she could no longer do so due to her old age.

“They were a sweet old couple and they gave me one of their handmade whips as a gift afterwards.”

Her most requested services were pegging, bondage and sadomachoism. Tessa says she doesn’t regret her past because it made her who she is today, but she left the industry with trauma and PTSD.

‘I made a lot of money, but left with a lot of trauma. I felt a lot of shame as Contessa and how my life had turned out. But my pastor told me that God’s strongest soldiers were trained in the enemy’s camp. God put me there for a reason and I am using my story to help other women. I certainly don’t preach to them, but I do tell them that there is another life if they want it.

It’s a far cry from her life as one of Australia’s most popular BDSM escorts, where she was paid $800 an hour to torture men with whips, chains and electric rods.

‘I made thousands of dollars a week as a sex worker, but now work for free in Sunday school and have never felt so free and empowered. Sometimes I miss the money, but now I feel better, look better and am mentally healthier.”

Although her bookings were sometimes difficult, Tessa said BDSM helped her understand men.

‘Many of my customers have become good friends. BDSM gave me power and control and made me understand men, especially when you take away the ego. Men told me all about their problems. But you can’t use torture as a way to deal with emotional pain; you need to talk it out.”

The former sex worker has now been celibate for almost two years. She assumed no one would want to date her given her past, but says she is constantly asked out by male suitors – and has even received a marriage proposal that she turned down.

‘Many of my customers have become good friends. BDSM gave me power and control and made me understand men, especially when you take away the ego. Men told me all about their problems. But you can’t use torture as a way to deal with emotional pain; you need to talk it out.”

‘Christian men often ask me out, but the next time I have sex will be on my wedding night as I am now celibate. I find that the men in the church respect my choices and my past more than the rest of society. They are absolute gentlemen.’

‘I want to tell women my story because I see many women becoming sex workers these days. My message to these women is this: think long term. Not every sex worker is privileged and high class.

‘Society wants us to stop sex work, but when we do, we are stigmatized. I want to help women realize that there is another way: not everyone will judge us.

‘Sex work is like a drug. It’s great at first, but it can wind you up if you’re not mentally strong. It’s your body, your choice, but I feel lucky to be able to get out and I owe it all to God.”