Intercourse work” could be a term that is fraught our tradition. The phrase might conjure images of tragic women who have been trafficked into selling sex against their will for those of us who grew up on the most common depictions of people who work in the sex industry. And though that variety of intercourse work is really real, there is also a much richer tapestry of the whom work with the intercourse industry than everything we’re frequently confronted with through news tales and pop culture. The actual tales of cam models, dominatrices, and porn stars in many cases are different from the tropes we come across in fancy (and frequently reckless) headlines about intercourse, medications, and criminal korean brides activity. In reality, lots of intercourse employees certainly love whatever they do.

Glamour talked to 15 women that work with different elements for the intercourse industry—porn performers, dominatrices, and cam models—about their choices to go into the company.