While this is not issuefic per se, it deals with subjects that may be uncomfortable including but not limited to: the COVID pandemic, homelessness in the LGBT+ population, mental health issues, chronic illness, occasional bigotry and mention of a character having survived a hate crime.
In response to any accusations that I might be "portraying trans wrong" or "glorifying sex work", please be aware I hold the following positions:
I am a trans man. Trans people are not a monolith. We have different sexual orientations, and different comfort levels and preferences on gender presentation, disclosure of one's trans status, how we refer to our body parts, and what we want to do or not do with said body parts sexually.
Genitalia terms used here are cock, dick, pussy, boypussy, and cunt.
The characters in this fic have medically or magically transitioned and there is discussion of dysphoria, that said I support the right of all trans/NB people to identify how they see fit regardless of medical transition status or degrees of dysphoria.
In my fic Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy, set in the Corn of Eternity universe, which I posted back in March 2021, I wrote of Sören:
...he was a poor university student, since he'd opted to go to school in the States instead of in Iceland where it was free, just to get away from his abusive family, and had supported himself as an exotic dancer and occasional male escort.
This is a different universe but nonetheless sex work is something he's done in at least a few universes somewhere.
"Sex work" encompasses a variety of activities, not just prostitution/escorting - including [but not limited to] making pornographic or lewd videos and photos, stripping, sugar/findom relationships, sexual surrogate and pro dom/sub services.
Some sex workers do have difficult lives, but not all sex workers are doing it out of coercion/trafficking or to support a drug habit or to re-enact childhood abuse; not all sex workers find their job distasteful and disempowering. With the rise of sites like OnlyFans, there are a number of trans/non-binary, disabled and/or fat creators of explicit content who are using their sexually-themed videos and photos to develop a better relationship with their bodies and their sexuality, increasing confidence and relieving dysphoria or shame - so to dismiss sex work as always inherently oppressive/disempowering is harmful.
In a perfect world where everyone's needs were met through universal basic income and other societal reforms, there would still be those who engage in sex work by choice, because they enjoy it.