ultimately it's the choice of the individual if they're okay with the work or not

Ah, the free choice between degrading yourself and starving. I too would have preferred the path of regulation, but I can understand the courts being so disgusted that they just blanket ban it.

this feels like Chinese conservatism forcing "modesty" on women.

I don't know much about Chinese society, but in South Korea (and to a lesser extent, Japan), it is mainly feminists pushing against practises that objectify them, with furious opposition from certain men, and even the authorities dragging their feet.