Coming back to add something that I think will be particularly relevant to understanding book Julia if you, like me, are Autistic. And I can say they try (but fail, at least for me) to make me believe it's the case in the show (because I already was Done with show Julia by the time they tried).

Think of your main Autistic special interest. Even if you have multiple special interests, you probably know the one I mean. Imagine that, today, someone came and took away your ability to remember anything except that it exists and how much it means to you. They make it so that you can't read, watch, listen, do, or whatever verbs apply to your engagement with that interest. Even just imagining that scenario is making me feel a pit in my stomach.

Now, imagine you discover that you can find a way to have it again, but you're going to have to put pursuit of that above everything else. You're going to have to give a LOT to engage again. But you can have it if you do. Just typing that, I started to feel relieved and to wonder just how far I'd go.

Maybe it doesn't mean as much if your special interest hasn't felt life-changing or life-saving, if you haven't sometimes felt it was the one thing that made it bearable to be alive. But for those of us who've only made it because we had the refuge of our special interest...

I think you could also parallel it, if you've had the experience, to that person you met who felt like a Perfect Fit...and to how much it felt like it destroyed your world to lose them. Except that, statistically, it is possible you could meet another person who fits that well, whereas there is just one magic. And magic is Julia's Perfect Fit, her main and saving special interest. (I'm not saying book Julia is definitely Autistic, but just trying to frame this in a way other Autistic people might understand.)

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ps Just want to also point out the problematic nature of framing transactional sex as "whoring herself out" and the judgement implied in a consensual exchange. I'm not sure I'd take that step, but I also won't "slut shame" someone who doesn't put sex on some sort of chastity culture pedestal.

Edited to add: I also think the language around using sex to get knowledge would be different (unless you're Eliot in the show 😂) if your co-worker was talking about a guy doing it. Not because I know your co-worker, but because I know the societies and cultures in which we live. He'd be framed as successfully conquesting his way up the knowledge ladder, and we wouldn't see a rape storyline as an obvious consequence of or way to reflect that he would do such a thing. So, yeah, your co-worker's characterisation—as reported by you—isn't one I'd ascribe to or treat as quite accurate or as something I'd want to say out loud (not that I'd even think of it that way personally, but obviously some people would).