The only way porn is empowering is if the act and associated stigma of taking money for being filmed performing sexual acts is empowering. There is no gradient. There is no justification. There is no "third way." A woman who puts herself through college by winning Final Jeopardy hasn't beaten "the education system" she's taken money for appearing on television. A woman who puts herself through college by deploying her incredible fast pitch hasn't beaten "the education system" she's taken money for performing physical acts for someone else. A woman who puts herself through college through her exceptional debate skills hasn't beaten "the education system" she's taken money for arguing at someone else's behest.

None of those women face a social stigma.

Here's the relevant paragraph of the essay in question:

Of course, I do fully acknowledge that some women don't have such a positive experience in the industry. We need to listen to these women. And to do that we need to remove the stigma attached to their profession and treat it as a legitimate career that needs regulation and oversight. We need to give a voice to the women that are exploited and abused in the industry. Shaming and hurling names at them, the usual treatment we give sex workers, is not the way to achieve this.

This is a person pretending that filmed entertainment revolving around degradation isn't degrading, and that one of the most heavily-regulated forms of filmed entertainment isn't regulated. Really, it's one long, naive complaint that a heavily stigmatized profession is heavily stigmatized. What's sad is that the author does not recognize that the money paying her college is due entirely to the stigma. Flash your tits? Girls Gone Wild will give you a t-shirt. Let a man shove a coke bottle up your vagina? Now we're starting to eke away at the tuition payments. "If she truly enjoys bondage or whatever" then she shouldn't give a shit that the rest of the world thinks she's a kink. And honestly, the rest of the world doesn't. The rest of the world has noticed that she does it for money which is now and shall always be a line in the sand.