I bring this up because because the commodification of sex is something that comes up quite frequently in relation to dating (men using prostitutes, porn, "sEnDiNg NuDeS iS eMpOwErInG", etc.) and we often discuss it here.

The term "sex work" is a motte-and-bailey fallacy. That is, it conflates and easily defended position with one that's much more contentious and difficult to argue in favour of. You've seen it before when someone says "listen to sex workers" and then pulls out a testimonial from a young, middle class, usually white woman with an OnlyFans account that she operates from the safety of her own home about how sex work is great and should be legal and no one should have a problem with it. This completely glosses over the fact many of the women who fall under the "sex worker" umbrella are victims of trafficking, grooming, or pimping, or turned to it out of absolute desperation, and work in highly dangerous conditions. I've seen the former used to defend the latter without an ounce of shame.

We should reject the term sex work because it enables people to put a nice veneer on something that's overwhelmingly horrendous and causes unimaginable suffering for so many women. I don't use it anymore, and I encourage the ladies here to do the same and call it out where you see it. Prostitution, camming, stripping, whatever it is, call it by its name. If someone wants to argue in favour of those things they can try without anything to hide behind.

I'm not trying to say that many of the women who do consent to these things aren't still being exploited and groomed, I've heard women who formerly made and defended porn say they were trying to convince themselves more than other people. The point is that this is something that directly harms us as women and we're doing ourselves a disservice if we let the people who benefit set the terms of how we discuss it.