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20/20
Air Date: Friday, March 21, 2008
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on ABC
Episode Title: "Prostitution in America - Working Girls Speak, Part 2"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

A DIANE SAWYER SPECIAL, "PROSTITUTION IN AMERICA: WORKING GIRLS SPEAK," AIRS AS A TWO-PART "20/20," FRIDAY, MARCH 21

In a rare and intimate look at the oldest profession in the world, Diane Sawyer goes inside both the legal and the underground businesses of prostitution in America. From expensive New York penthouses to Nevada's legal brothels to the tough streets outside Philadelphia and Reno, Sawyer speaks candidly with America's "working girls." Who are these women, what drives them to sell sex and what is like to work as prostitute? Diane Sawyer's report airs on "20/20," FRIDAY, MARCH 21 (9:00-10:00 & 10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. Sawyer also speaks with experts, including New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, to examine the state of prostitution today.

The world of high-end, high-priced prostitution has been in the news lately because of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's scandal involving an exclusive escort service. But this kind of service under-represents what prostitution in America really is. Behind the "Pretty Woman" image is a world of vulnerability, danger and fear.

For more than two years, "20/20" cameras documented the daily risks of street walkers and expensive call girls. The report captures the realities of who these women are and how the law deals with them, compared to their male clientele. Whether a single mom, a college student, a housewife, a school teacher or a drug addict, the women the program follows have ended up in places they never planned to be� some are lured by the dream of a flashy lifestyle and fast money, others to feed their drug habit and just to survive, but almost all struggle with the challenge of how hard it is to get out.

Whether they are making $20 in five minutes or $20,000 in one night, the program follows the grim spiral of dependence these women often fall into. One working girl, Jessie, says: "We believe money buys happiness. And it doesn't. But it does for a while." Another says she makes as much in one day at a legalized brothel than she would make as a nurse working for two weeks. What would it take for them to change their lives?

David Sloan is the executive producer of "20/20."

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