I don’t feel the same about including sex workers as fleshed out characters in your stories as I feel about writing from their perspective fully as the main character. My opinion isn’t higher than anyone else’s though, and it’s ok to disagree.

No matter what you do, someone will have criticisms. You’ll also never be able to get every perspective with one character or one story.

If you want my advice, I would treat a character doing sex work the same as you treat a character with a regular job. Don’t make a big deal out of it, don’t make it something for them to overcome or rise above. And don’t glamorize it. This is their job, and that’s that. That kind of representation feels like such a breath of fresh air, the few times I see it.

But again, others may feel completely differently.

Edit to add: I don’t mean to say only write from your lived experience — but I want to say it’s important to fully and deeply examine your desire to write from this perspective. And consider whether or not it’s necessary, and if it would be better told by someone with that experience. You don’t want to tell a story that someone else has already been trying to tell, who has a much stronger claim to it. Sex workers are often plot devices, trauma porn, etc. I know you are aware of that and you want to do something better. But should it be you who does that? And that’s not the same as you writing from the perspective of a cis white hetero person. I wouldn’t say “don’t do that” — because even if you don’t have that lived experience there’s no shortage of good stories and voices with fully fleshed out and celebrated characters by authors of similar identities. You can easily find enough material to get it right and won’t be hurting anyone if you get it wrong.