Why I’ll Always Return to Sex Work

1. Sex Work Is So Much More Than People Think

When people hear “sex work,” their minds often go straight to street prostitution or escorting. But the truth is, sex work is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of services and formats—some of which never involve physical contact at all.

I’ve worked as a sugar baby and a phone sex operator, and those experiences shaped how I see the world, my autonomy, and my finances. Sugar babying, for example, wasn’t always about sex—it was about companionship, presence, conversation, and emotional labor. With phone sex, there was a deep psychological component. You become a fantasy architect.

There’s an assumption that all sex work is inherently exploitative or desperate, but that just erases the reality for a lot of us. Some of us chose this path not because we had to—but because it worked better than anything else available.

2. It Can Be Deeply Empowering—But Only If It’s Done Right

This isn’t a fairytale. Sex work can be dangerous if it’s done without the right safeguards, boundaries, or support. But done right, it can be incredibly empowering.

For me, sex work gave me control over my schedule, over my energy, over my time. I decided when to log on. I chose who I spoke to, what I said, and where my limits were. That level of autonomy is something I’ve never found in traditional employment, where even bathroom breaks can be timed.

Yes, I was performing a version of myself, but I was also crafting and owning my image. I made money through my creativity, my emotional intelligence, and my ability to connect. That’s power.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge the darker side. People get hurt in this industry when they feel they can’t say no, or when their safety nets are pulled away. Legal uncertainty, societal stigma, and poor regulation make it far riskier than it needs to be. That’s why decriminalisation and harm-reduction models are so important.

3. Sex Work Suits the Chronically Ill and Neurodivergent—And That’s Not a Coincidence

I live with chronic illnesses. I’m neurodivergent. Traditional jobs are hard for me—not because I lack capability, but because the structure is unforgiving. The world isn’t built for people like me.

Sex work allowed me to work around pain flares, fatigue, anxiety, and burnout. I could rest when I needed to, work when I felt well, and avoid environments that overwhelmed my senses or exhausted my body.

And I’m not alone in that. The sex work community is filled with people who are disabled, autistic, mentally ill, or otherwise excluded from mainstream employment. We’re not here because we failed elsewhere—we’re here because we found a system that makes more sense.

When people ask why so many sex workers are chronically ill or neurodivergent, they’re asking the wrong question. They should be asking why no other job accommodates us the way sex work can.

4. No Resumes. No Interviews. Just Work.

The formality of traditional employment is exhausting. Application forms, CVs, unpaid trial shifts, reference checks, online tests—it’s a lot of unpaid effort with no guarantee of a job at the end.

Sex work is different. You don’t need permission to begin. You can start today if you want to. You don’t have to lie about your gaps in employment history or pretend you’re “a team player” for a corporate culture that doesn’t serve you.

There’s a freedom in that. For people who are burnt out or in crisis, the idea that you can just start and be your own boss is not only practical—it’s life-saving.

There’s no “wrong look” or “wrong vibe” if you find your niche. You create your own branding, your own limits, your own workflow. For people like me, who often don’t fit into rigid boxes, that’s everything.

5. It’s Easier Than Ever to Work Safely and Creatively Online

In the digital age, the sex industry has evolved rapidly. OnlyFans, cam sites, sexting apps, custom content services—there are so many routes that allow people to work remotely, safely, and independently.

People think OnlyFans was the beginning of digital sex work. It wasn’t. Cam girls, clip creators, and pay-per-minute phone operators were building entire businesses online long before that. Now, the tools are more accessible and the audiences larger.

Technology allows us to work with anonymity and control. You can filter who sees your content. You can choose how you interact. You can block and report abusive clients. That doesn’t make it perfectly safe, but it’s miles ahead of what sex workers were dealing with even a decade ago.

And it allows for creativity, too. Whether you're curating your persona, setting up custom requests, or designing your own subscription tiers—this is work that lets you be inventive.

Final Thoughts: I’m Not Romanticising It—But I’m Not Ashamed Either

I’m not here to convince you sex work is easy. It’s not. It’s emotional labor. It’s boundaries. It’s marketing, tech issues, late nights, and sometimes dealing with awful people.

But I am saying this: for someone like me—chronically ill, neurodivergent, burned out by traditional work, but still ambitious—sex work gave me options.

It gave me a safety net when I was too sick to work retail. It paid my bills when I couldn’t face interviews. It allowed me to earn money on my terms, when everything else felt too hard.

That’s why I’ll always return to it. Not because it’s glamorous. Not because it’s perfect. But because it works for me in ways nothing else ever has.

And that shouldn’t be a shameful admission—it should be a wake-up call to how broken the rest of the working world really is.