S "Sex workers are not allowed to have bad days," Kitty Stryker says. Admitting to a bad day means bad PR, not for just one person but for the whole profession. Putting a good face on things, keeping up appearances, this is what's important. It's also impossible. "Sooner or later," she says, "something has got to give." For Stryker, something did.

Kitty Stryker is a former prostitute and porn performer. She's also a blogger, a public speaker, an activist, and now a PR consultant. When we first spoke to her, in April of 2012, she seemed to have it all: Her profile was rising and she was beating the stigma of her night work to become a public figure. She had a fiance, a girlfriend, and a supportive family. She seemed confident, secure, and happy.

Six months later, she'd quit her job and been dumped by all her significant others. For a moment, she'd contemplated suicide. "I packed a bag with all the medications I had and enough booze to sink a ship," she later wrote. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. It was a stunning turn. It was also inevitable--but not, Stryker contends, for the reasons some...