Sex work is an extremely broad umbrella, but in general I think it's safe to say it definitely isn't "real work" or empowering.
Camming/ethotting can be done on your schedule and you don't have to fuck people you don't want, but in most cases it's not a career and after people get tired of you or you get too old, have fun working entry level jobs with no experience. Fair enough though, you can work your way to be an internet celebrity or get a job in modelling or porn industry, but these cases are few and far between. I'd say I wouldn't mind it too much if it's a college-aged woman temporarily making some side money.
Prostitution or escorting is even more of a dead end as far as careers go, has a high chance of being involved in trafficking and sucks in general. Nothing "real" about this one, you have to be a victim or a person with severe issues to do this.
Western porn scenes can lead to a career as a producer, director, influencer etc. but most of it stays in the porn industry so again it's a fat chance. And while (and I must stress western, because there's a ton of coercing or trafficking say eastern europe and some asian countries) the working conditions are generally better and most of the time it's voluntery, plenty of women working in it are down on luck, drug addicts, or just simply have some sort of issue, whether that's money, family, friends, mental issues...
Modelling or cosplaying aren't fucking sex work, it fits better into an art umbrella and generally doesn't exist to get someone off nor it involves sex.
