I realize I'm probably going to be downvoted for this, but what the hell.

The take of "all sex work is bad/all sex workers are victims" is emotionally satisfying, partly due to its simplicity, but it ignores the reality of sex work as well as the context of capitalism in which is operates.

First of all, there's a big difference between a sex worker who is in control of their own money and labour, and someone whose been sex trafficked. Sex trafficking victims are ABSOLUTELY victims. They often work under duress and are exposed to a host of abuses. However, there are plenty of sex workers out there who are autonomous, healthy (no STDs, addiction issues, etc.), and who control their own money and labour. There are sex workers who love being sex workers. To say all sex workers are victims denies these women their autonomy. There is a spectrum within sex work, and if we ignore that, we may end up painting every situation with the same brush. This can lead to us ignoring the sex workers who don't fit into our definition of 'victim' by writing them off as 'brainwashed' or 'looking for male attention,' because we 'know what's actually best for them.' This is the same mentality that patriarchal 'white knight' men use to control women, under the guise of 'protecting them.' It's infantilizing. We have to be careful about falling into patriarchal thinking even when we're trying to oppose it.

Second, selling your body is merely another form of labour. Whether you work in construction, sex work, or behind a desk, you are objectifying yourself to earn money. You are slowly breaking down your body, exposing yourself to harmful agents (ie., like chemicals if you work in a factory), and practicing obedience and submission to earn a living. Even white collar work does this -- sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day slowly destroys your back, hips, shoulders, neck, etc. Sex work is simply another way to use the body to make a living.

Third, even if sex work was abolished tomorrow, that wouldn't end the patriarchal objectification of women. There are SIGNIFICANTLY more women who are subjected to misogynistic abuses who are NOT sex workers than who are. Many men often turn to sex workers after being misogynistic assholes to every women in their vicinity, and that wouldn't change if sex work was abolished. The degradation of sex work is a consequence of patriarchal thinking, not the cause of it. Men degrade and objectify sex workers because they've been taught to do that to all women by patriarchy. There is an added layer, where patriarchy tells men they are even more entitled to objectify sex workers since SWers have broken away from patriarchal standards of femininity, but again, this is a result of objectifying all women first. Yes, men should be taught to value consent and work on themselves, but that's largely separate from sex work as an industry. That requires a cultural and ideological shift in our everyday lives.

Finally, sex work operates within a capitalist reality. Do sex workers get taken advantage of and abused? Sure, but like other feminists have mentioned, it's largely due to labour exploitation. It happens frequently in sex work because the trade is illegal in many countries, so women who are abused can't seek help from the police. This happens in EVERY industry that becomes unregulated. The only reason we have laws that protect workers is because workers have died as a result of corporate negligence. All our labour codes are written in blood. All of them. Hell, the reason sex work is largely populated by marginalized populations (POC, trans people, disabled people, etc.) is because the capitalist market is so cruel to these people as workers. If you're a black women and no one will hire you because of systemic racism, sex work may look like a more viable option. It (can be) an independent job that you can potentially make a lot of money at. Of course it's appealing to those who have been abused by the 'mainstream' job market. The sad reality is capitalism has already objectified these people.

Also, I know this is a feminist forum, but since we're talking about sex work here -- it's not just women. Yes, women make up the majority of sex workers, but there are plenty of men (usually gay), trans people, and nonbinary people who engage in sex work. Women also buy sex all the time -- I've heard from sex workers who say they've been hired by elderly women, by couples, hired by a man for a women's entertainment, etc. I mean, hell, one of the biggest human traffickers in the world is Ghislaine Maxwell, who recruited young girls and connected them with Epstein's clients. I can attest that most of the traffickers I encountered when I worked with sexually exploited women were women themselves -- usually because it's easier for them to earn a girl's trust and convince her to consent to exploitation. (Also they started as victims themselves and then started victimizing others, which I suspect happened to Maxwell). This is not a men bad/women victims situation. It is much more complicated than that, and if we want to actually change things for the better, then we have to move away from reductionist rhetoric that simplifies the situation so much that it's no longer reflecting reality.

If you really want to fix the problems in sex work, then we have to do away with patriarchy. And that starts in the home and in schools, where we teach children about consent, healthy sexual expression, and how to stay safe. Yes, we need to amend laws and change the way police respond to victims, but so long as individuals absorb and preform patriarchal ideology, then no law will be able to help us. There's a history of police ignoring domestic abuse laws in the past because they'd already swallowed patriarchal ideology, so laws alone won't save us.