of girls, quite a number of transactions, meaning girls getting in cars. what we're watching is something that happens in big and small cities across america. and for most of this country's history it's been illegal. >> oh, that must be the pimp. >> crackdowns and criminalization have been rampant. >> all night, all day, all night. >> but there was actually a time in this country when the federal government tried something different in one american city. when commercial sex was legalized. >> if you look at what nevada does today, it's the same thing that they were doing in nashville in the 1860s. the women registered. you paid $5. and we're going to give you a license. >> i mean, could a sex worker live fairly independently? >> absolutely. >> 150 years later there's a new movement to change how sex work is viewed. and this time we're talking about something that could happen nationwide. >> should prostitution be decriminalized? >> people have dominion over their own bodies. >> under the proposed law people working in prostitution and their clients would no longer face criminal charges. >> the decriminalization of sex work is complicated. >> people who have been prostituted do not belong in prison. >> there's fierce debate. >> we are mothers, we are daughters, we are sisters. >> and it may be coming to a town near you. >> there is nothing shameful about the world's oldest profession. and i'm damn well proud to be doing it. ♪ ♪ sacramento, california's capital and my old hometown. it's been years since i called sacramento home, but i'm back now to see a side of the city i never knew. so here's a young woman with very short shorts, and it's in the 50s. and the woman in the white jacket, 2:30 in the afternoon. scenes just like this play out all over america. >> there they go. >> insiders call it the game, a complex system of rules that dominates the world of street-based prostitution. it's one piece of an illicit, multibillion-dollar trade that thrives behind closed doors, in hotel rooms, online and most visibly on street corners. tonight monroe is my guide. she spent four years in the game. so typically would girls just kind of walk back and forth until you get dates? >> yeah. it's always been on a dark street but then it's unsafe because anything could happen to you. >> barely out of high school, monroe began selling sex to support herself and her daughter. she made it look glamorous. but the reality was far darker. did someone push you into prostitution? >> at the beginning like there wasn't a gun to my head. it was manipulation. you know, go get this money, we'll be good, you can have everything you need taken care of. >> the man promising monroe big money was a pimp. they pitch themselves as managers in exchange for a cut. but exploitation is rampant. >> we have quotas usually that we try to meet and regardless of how long it takes us, how many dates, that's what we have to reach. >> a financial quota? >> mm-hmm. mine was 1,000 a day minimum. >> so to make $1,000 how long would you have to be out there? >> we would leave the house probably about 6:00 p.m. we wouldn't come home till about 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. the next day. sleep a few hours and go right back out there. >> what's going on over here? >> it's not just quotas that pimps mandate. it's also control of the money. women are expected to hand over all of their earnings. they may get some cash or gifts but only when their pimp sees fit. >> that's where they pull up to you. the pimps manipulate our heads. when i was out here i was insecure. my worth was how much i made that day. >> while not all street-based workers have pimps, many do. and poor and marginalized women tend to be the most vulnerable. as monroe tells it, the game is a system of control. >> what happens if you don't meet your quota? >> there are a lot of times you get your ass beat. so we made sure we'd make our quotas. >> sex workers rarely turn to the police for help because under the law they're criminals too. how many times have you been arrested? >> eight or nine times. they just send me to jail, booking, release. send you to jail, booking, release. that's it. >> so what does your record currently look like? >> horrible. horrible. i tried to get a job at the airport. they denied me badging due to my cases. and when they denied it it was like i was a walking std or something. >> this is the cycle. women often fall into this work because they're desperate, and then when they try to get out their criminal record seals them in. but some believe it doesn't have to be that way. as head of the sex workers outreach project in sacramento, kristen deangelo works closely with women in the sex trade and helped monroe get out. but she's more than an advocate. >> every one of us remembers our first time. it's almost like there's this line that you step over. >> kristen first crossed that line into sex work when she was just 17. like me she grew up in sacramento. but while i was in school, she was learning to support herself through sex work. >> i could sustain life. i could have my own place. i could pay my own bills. i could do everything i needed to do. >> since then she's worked in almost every aspect of the sex industry. what is sex work? >> when we talk about sex work, we're talking about strippers, we're talking about porn stars, we're talking about escorts, we're talking about street work, we're talking about that whole range. and much of that is legal. like after i said it, you go yeah, that's legal. but people who are doing street work, prostitution, are working illegally. those are the majority of people you see being arrested every day. >> how dangerous is street work? >> street work is very dangerous. very dangerous. there's no time in between interaction with the person and making a decision, there's no one to call if something happens, and it's very dangerous. >> so dangerous, in fact, that according to a 2004 study it's the deadliest job in america. compared to 2020 numbers, that would make it almost twice as deadly as the next most dangerous profession and nearly 15 more times deadly than police work. it's a hard truth that kristen had to learn firsthand when a client turned out to be a predator. >> he took me to his house, and i remember walking in and that's when he snatched my hair back. you know in the movies when people strangle you you die? well, i'm here to tell you that's a lie. you don't die most of the time. you come back and you breathe again and you're in that same hell that you left. and he did that over and over and over. and then something happened. that time when i woke up i laid there limp and i didn't move. i knew just to make like i was dead. and he began dragging me down the back steps. >> he took kristen to his car, opened the trunk, and disappeared back inside. that's when she seized her moment to get away. kristen escaped. but when she tried to press charges, she realized that in the eyes of the law she was just as much a criminal as the man who attacked her. >> i lay there in the rape unit of uc davis medical center, and the police came and took my statement. then they told me that if i wanted to report that i would go to jail for prostitution. >> that's when kristen began searching for another way. in what ways did your life change after that? >> i wanted to do it on my terms. i wanted to do it the way i wanted to do it. i wanted to see only the people i wanted to see if i sxi wanted to do it in a way where i never got hurt again. >> almost as an answer to her prayers a new technology emerged. and with it a way to sell sex that was both safer and far more lucrative. >> the internet was the age of the independent sex worker. we didn't need anybody else. everything you've seen me do was made possible by what you don't see. cause when you're not looking, i go to work. ♪ strength isn't a given. it's grown. it's earned and tested. ♪ we all have the strength to see what's possible. it's up to us to unlock it. tonal. be your strongest. ♪ (man) still asleep. (woman vo) so, where to next? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. ♪ every moment together is a gift. la vie est belle. lancôme. at macy's, the fragrance destination. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it may not be music to your ears, but as long as it's music to theirs. bring the volume back to the venue with exclusive ticket access to unmissable events. one of the many reasons you're with amex platinum. we are inspired by those people who become the secret ingredient in any recipe. we are inspired by their love for sharing. ♪ ♪ we're inspired by you. i'm gonna earn 3% on dining including takeout with chase freedom unlimited. that's a lot of cash back. are you gonna stop me? uh-oh... i'm almost there... too late! boom! earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. most sex workers used to pick up clients walking the street. out there they had only seconds to decide, do i trust this stranger? but after the internet there was a new possibility. >> i was literally one of the first women in the united states to have their own website. >> and so the internet allowed you a kind of independence? >> yes. >> and safety? >> the internet was the age of the independent sex worker. because what happened is we had time between a person wanting to see us and us seeing them and being able to check it out. we had safety. we could negotiate it where we want it, how we want it. and there were women saying yes, i can do this, i want to do this, and these are my terms. it was huge. >> in the early days of the internet personal websites like kristen's were the only option for sex workers looking to take their business online. but in 2004 a new site called backpage.com made online sex work accessible to anyone with an internet connection. what did backpage do for the world of sex work? >> it leveled the playing field. backpage was a posting site where somebody who had no resources, who needed to make money, could put an ad and they could sustain life. they could get a job immediately. you had people who were of the most marginalized from communities that had nothing, who were able to put up a business and slowly grow and change their economic status in the world. >> an ad and a photo was all it took to participate in a vast online marketplace without having to set foot on the street. but by 2018 it all came crashing down. >> raise your right hand. >> and it started with the story of a young girl. >> our youngest, natalie, was something special. >> 15-year-old natalie ran away in 2013, and when detectives finally tracked her down weeks later it was through an adult ad on backpage. after rescuing her they learned the full story. shortly after leaving home she'd met a man who trapped her and began forcing her to sell sex. he was the one who posted the ad. >> i can't imagine her fear and bewilderment at what was happening to her as she was repeatedly raped and beaten while being posted on backpage. >> natalie's story revealed a dark secret about the site. not only was backpage a place for independent sex workers, it was also according to nicole and others like advocate sarai smith zaragos a hub for underage sex trafficking. >> at this point we're hearing stories from multiple survivors of saying yeah, i was trafficked on backpage, oh yeah, i was trafficked on backpage when i was 13. >> sex trafficking is different than sex work. sex work is done by choice. trafficking is coerced by third parties who profits by selling you for sex. pimps often fall into this category. >> is there a particular profile? >> anyone can be a victim of human trafficking. but unfortunately, in reality poverty plays a huge part in it. african-american women and girls are disproportionately affected. >> how did backpage disrupt the way sex trafficking happens? >> backpage was harboring and knowingly abling traffickers and pimps, and backpage continues to deny that they are aware what is happening, we do not allow this type of stuff to be uploaded on our website, but yet there is plenty of evidence that there is. and you're refusing to acknowledge it. more needed to be done. and it took a bill to do that. >> the yeas are 97. the nays are 2. the bill is passed. >> the result was the fight online sex trafficking act. known as sesta-fosta. >> it's a good day for those girls and boys who have been trafficked because they now have the opportunity to seek justice. >> that's why this bill was created to make sure websites were accountable for what was being uploaded to stop sex trafficking of children. >> but the law didn't just force backpage to take the ads down. it resulted in the website and all others like it shutting down completely. overnight the world of online adult ads had gone dark. >> so for the human trafficking movement it was a victory. it was yes. but then there was the other side of it. >> it was like a bloodbath. after backpage fell. it was just something out of a nightmare. stab wounds. shot. strangled. all working girls. >> kristen maintains an unofficial record of sex workers killed since sesta fosta was implemented. it's also in a way a memorial. >> this girl's killer posed as a client and then slit her throat. she was 26. raped and killed by suffocation. god, this girl looks so young. trans woman from ohio. she had an infectious laugh and will be remembered. very rarely do police pursue these. so the majorities are just unsolved. there's so much abuse in this kind of work. why do people still continue to go back to it? >> it's a job. it's a job. some jobs are dangerous. sometimes it's the only thing you have to work with, is your body. you know? that's maybe all you have. and it may be dangerous and you hope tomorrow that it will be safer, tomorrow nothing bad will happen if it happens bad today. you just do the best you can to stay alive. you know? >> when sesta fosta removed one of the best ways women in the sex trade had to improve their safety, it was the last straw. leaders in the community like kristen were furious. and now they want more than just the sites back. they want to ignite a revolution. >> you are advocating for a full decriminalization of sex work. >> yes. >> what does that mean? >> decriminalization just says like okay, this isn't illegal anymore, now let's start deciding how we want to structure this industry, like how is it going to work. what are going to be the rules and regulations? how do we keep people safe? that's decriminalization. >> would the sex traffickers also be decriminalized? >> no. no, no, no. that's exploitation. that's a different thing. that's a whole different category. this is a labor profession. all we're asking for is those rights so we can stop our own exploitation. >> the right to sell sex. it's a vision of sex work common elsewhere in the world. but is america really ready for it? what if i told you we've done it before? onal customer support, and 5g included in every plan, so you get it all. this holiday season, give your family the gift that keeps on... going? our very own energizer bunny! energizer ultimate lithium. 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(vo) this is more than just glass, walls, doors and carpeted floor. it's a place to change the world. loopnet. the most popular place to find a space. ♪ singing and driving ♪ ♪ playing the drums ♪ ♪ what could be better ♪ ♪ taking a nap ♪ ♪ drive a friend home ♪ ♪ stop for a snack ♪ ♪ things you can't do ♪ ♪ using an app ♪ ♪ don't send emojis ♪ ♪ go hug your mom ♪ ♪ drive to the airport ♪ ♪ show him some love ♪ ♪ now grab a taco ♪ ♪ because it's late ♪ ♪ and tomorrow is ♪ ♪ a brand new day ♪ from saloons across the frontier to brothels and body houses in slums back east we've also been a nation that sells sex. what are the roots of prostitution in the united states? >> well, during the colonial period it's really interesting because they did not see sex work as a crime. they saw it as a moral failing. >> today i'm talking with history professor sharita thompson about sex work in america. she tells me that for most of our history the trade existed in a gray area, discouraged but not forbidden. but then something happened that changed that, and it began with a bang. >> during the civil war we saw the biggest increase of sex workers in the 19th century. so the industry really explodes. >> we remember the civil war for tales of bloodshed and struggle. but a little-known fact is that it also ushered in the largest boom in prostitution our nation has ever known. drawn to the growing number of soldiers, thousands of sex workers flooded red light districts across america. >> so there are multitudes of reasons why women are becoming sex workers during this time period. there are women who are losing their husbands to war. and how are they going to support themselves and their children? some out of pure necessity. >> but one city in particular stood out. union-occupied nashville, tennessee. >> about 1,500 sex workers descend on nashville as these 30,000 soldiers are moving in there as well. >> for the thousands of young union soldiers far from home nashville's bustling red light district was an irresistible temptation. but for the army it was a public health disaster. [ coughing ] how big a problem was it? >> if you had five men who had been treated for a disease during the civil war, two of the five it was a venereal disease. >> syphilis and gonorrhea were the most common. and while a course of antibiotics would easily cure them today, back then the prognosis was life-threatening. >> it was impacting the union's ability to fight because it took such a long time for them to recover from these venereal diseases, which means they were out in the hospital, not out in the field fighting. >> the union general tasked one of his top officers with the problem. but the solution proved problematic. >> so the union army way of dealing with this was to commandeer a brand new ship and to put upon that ship the most notorious sex workers in nashville and send them away to louisville. >> they sent a ship in to take sex workers out? >> they did. they did. >> the plan was simple, if harsh. run the women out of town. >> so these women are rounded up and they are bound for louisville. well, they got word that they were coming to louisville. so they are met by officials in louisville who say they can't get off here. okay, now they try to go to cincinnati. cincinnati has word and they're like you're not bringing them here either. >> the ship's captain was a man named john newcombe and it was up to him to figure out what to do next. >> for two weeks he's stuck out in the middle of the water, trying to control women who are said to have been able to sneak liquor on the boat, so they're drunk, and they are raucous. they're tearing his boat apart. and so the boat returns to nashville with these sex workers on them. so now the problem is still there. what are we going to do about it? >> having failed to evict the women, the army's next gambit was even more radical. an experiment never tried before in america. >> so how did they regulate it? they said, well, sex work was a form of labor. all of the sex workers have to register. you pay $5 and we're going to give you a license. once a week you have to go see a doctor and you have to come back free of stds. if you're found to have a venereal disease you have to immediately go to the hospital to be treated. once you're cleared, we will reinstate your license. >> in all, more than 300 licenses were granted. infections plummeted and street-based sex work decreased. >> it's interesting that you use the word "labor." >> mm-hmm. >> when talking about prostitution. because that's what it was. >> yes. absolutely. >> why do we not think about it as labor? >> because then you would have to reconceptualize what it was. even when you look at some of the early reformers, they actually look at it as something that these women are being forced into. right? they have no room for any level of autonomy or decision-making themselves. and so we're now starting to rethink this whole idea around sex work. >> in total the legal system only lasted two years. when the war ended in 1865 and the union army moved out, the system was abandoned. nashville returned to the status quo. but it wasn't long before a new movement swept the country. they called themselves the moral reformers. and they believed america was suffering from an epidemic of vice. their cure? laws nationwide prohibiting drinking, gambling, sexual deviance, and drugs. it was the dawn of prohibition, and the sex trade like alcohol was being pushed entirely underground. by 1918 the transformation was complete. every state in the union had take-in significant steps to outlaw prostitution. except one. representing the connection you share. forever connected. the perfect gift to give this holiday. exclusively at kay. bye mom. my helpers abound, i'll need you today. our sleigh is now ready, let's get on our way. a mountain of toys to fulfill many wishes. must be carried across all roads and all bridges. and when everyone is smiling and having their fun i can turn my sleigh north because my job here is done. it's not magic that makes more holiday deliveries to homes in the us than anyone else, it's the hardworking people of the united states postal service. during walmart's black friday deals for days, there's all the best deals. score wednesday online or friday in-store. this season, head to walmart's black friday deals for days. ♪ ♪ ♪ three times the electorlytes and half the sugar. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fast. with xfinity home, you can keep your home and everything in it more protected. i can wrangle all my deliveries. thanks, hoss! and i help walk the dog from wherever. *door unlocks* ♪ ♪ well, i can bust curfew-breakers in an instant. well, you all have xfinity home, with cameras to home security monitored by the pros. *laughs* learn more about home security or get our self-monitored solution starting at just $10 per month. so we are in this random little town called parumph in nevada. people from all over come here to buy fireworks and also experience fireworks. this isn't my first time visiting the brothels of nevada. >> welcome to the moonlit bunny ranch. >> back then i saw firsthand how this world works. >> i noticed there are no prices on here. >> right. all the girls are independent contractors. so what i might charge for a certain party somebody else charges half or double. >> i want to know how this unique system ended up in nevada. so i'm meeting with someone who's been studying the brothels here for over 25 years. university of las vegas professor barbara brents. how long have brothels been operating in this state? >> so prostitution has happened in nevada since it was settled. in the small mining camps there were often often red light districts. hundreds and hundreds of of sex workers working. and they had husbands in town. and the husbands didn't mind so much because selling it wasn't cheating. >> it was work. >> it was work. >> this was happening around the turn of the century, a time when the rest of the country was adopting laws banning prostitution. but nevada resisted the trend. all the way until the 1960s, when las vegas's growing importance as a tourism mecca renewed pressure to outlaw the sex trade. >> the casino industry was growing. we wanted to draw mainstream tourists. and las vegas was trying to move from a mob town to a corporate town. so in 1971 the state legislature was trying to make prostitution illegal. but the rural areas fought back and said no, no, we rely on the brothels, they're part of the economy, we don't want you to shut them down. >> ultimately a compromise was struck. you could still buy and sell sex in nevada but only in the sticks. the old wild west system gave way to licenses and std checks and nevada became the first and only u.s. state to legalize prostitution. could what happened in nevada be a model for the country? to find out i'm meeting with one of the brothel system's biggest success stories. >> hey! welcome to the bunny ranch. my name is alice little, and i would love to give you a tour. billing is very discreet and we can process any major debit or credit cards. >> 30-year-old alice little is something of a celebrity out here in rural nevada. that's because alice is the highest-paid legal sex worker in america, pulling in over a million dollars a year. what do you think your most successful sort of attributes are? >> i'm willing to hear anyone, listen to anyone, connect with anyone, without any sort of judgment. i want to get to know you, honor you and respect you for who you are in this moment in time. >> i like the softness of lingerie. i tend to stay away from things that voluptualize. i am who i am. this is the skin i'm in. i want to look like myself but in pretty lingerie. >> i have to admit when i first heard i was going to meet the alice, this was not what i expected. but it highlights an aspect of sex work that isn't always obvious. what many in the trade say they're really selling is intimacy. >> sex is great. sex feels fabulous. but the human body can really only have sex for so long before you are going to wear yourself out. the rest of that time is going to be spent talking and hearing their stories. >> so do you know what you're going to wear for your date today? >> you know, i'm a little bit conflicted between probably these two. >> alice's date is with a long-time client named jamie. between being a dad and working long hours, he says alice fulfills a need he's been missing. >> oh, my god. hi. >> oh, my god. >> it's so good to see you. >> what does alice provide for you? >> obviously, sex is on the table. however, my focus is actually being able to spend time with somebody that i care about. i like hearing her voice. i like seeing her smile. i like hearing her laugh. >> i missed you so much. >> i missed you too. >> this is a very different picture of sex work than what i saw on the streets of sacramento. and it's made alice rich. but is the success alice has found realistic for all sex workers? >> you know, there are women who are working out in the streets. there are escorts. there are women like you who work in brothels. so in that big picture where would you like the industry to be? >> well, right now many people view it as the whore-archy. at the base level you have people with the least amount of privilege, survival sex workers, immigrants, folks that are trans, folks that are going to be potentially stopped, frisked and harassed on the streets. whereas for myself i'm very, very privileged. i want to take the pyramid and turn it into an umbrella. this umbrella of rights, of legal rights ideally, and there shouldn't be this stigma of who's on top of who, who's better than this one. >> in the ideal world what would the sex trade look like? >> sex work is decriminalized and sex workers would have the ability to work wherever safely and consensually. in addition to having brothels across the 50 states. with a little bit of work it certainly could be a phenomenal template that we could use for the rest of the country. >> ultimately both alice and kristen want the same thing. for sex work to be seen as legitimate work. but not all those fighting for change see it that way. >> we can't allow an industry that's violent and exploitative to continue expanding. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ finding your new favorite spot? piece of no-you-really-have-to-try-this cake. get exclusive access to sought after restaurants. one of the many reasons you're with amex platinum. with clean, fresh ingredients, panera's new chicken sausage and pepperoni flatbread is a mouthwatering explosion of yes. craft? yes! heartiness? 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( abbot sonic ) i earn 3% cash back at drugstores with chase freedom unlimited. so i got cards for birthdays, holidays, graduations, i'm covered for everything. which reminds me, thank you for driving me to the drugstore. earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. i'm watching a group of activists do what's called a banner drop on the 101 freeway in the middle of los angeles at rush hour. and they're trying to get maximum exposure to their message. >> when we fight -- >> we win! >> when we fight -- >> we win! >> for years now sex work as work has been a rallying cry for those who want to legitimize the industry. simply put, it's a job just like any other. it may seem like this idea is universally accepted by those in the sex industry. but there's another side pushing back. why do you use the word prostitute rather than sex worker? >> because i prefer to call things for what they have. >> this is esperanza. >> i don't want it to sound like this flowery glamorous industry, sex work is work like any other job. it's not. sex is not work. it's sex. >> she knows firsthand what people experience in the sex trade. she survived it. tell me what it was like when you first began your journey in the sex trade. >> my friend and i were outside of the club, and she took me by the arm and walked me down the street. i thought we were just hanging around. until this car swooped up who was this older man. and he pointed at me and said that he wanted me. >> this was a new experience for esperanza. having only recently transitioned, feeling desired as a woman was thrilling. >> on top of that i needed the money. my friend was there helping me. so i was like okay, i'm going to do it. >> this is not an unusual way into the sex industry, especially in the trans community, many of whom are locked out of traditional jobs. for too many trans women, esperanza tells me, it's almost like a rite of passage. >> first i thought wow, like men are willing to pay me money, make me feel attractive, et cetera. and it's kind of like you have all this energy around you where all of the girls that you look up to in the community are in prostitution and you think that's how you feel beautiful, sexy, powerful. but that sort of honeymoon feeling wore off very quickly. it's a very lonely, isolating lifestyle. i was sexually assaulted. i was raped. it wasn't just my experience, the women that i worked with, they went through this too. i had three friends that died. >> after almost three years in the second trade, esperanza finally managed to make it out. now she fights for change. but not the change that kristin and alice want. while they want to legitimatize the sex industry, she thinks the focus should be on helping women get out. >> there are people who believe that if prostitution becomes legal, you could keep sex workers safer. what do you think about that? >> i think that is 100% incorrect. throughout history, under any legal framework, the sex trade has never existed without violence, coercion, and trafficking. these are the conditions, right? so i think it's not regulating it to help the prostituted woman, it's regulating it to allow the people who make profit from it to do so legally. >> under what circumstances could you meet that side in some kind of agreement? >> what we can work on together is we decriminalize the exploited. it's simply untenable to criminalize someone for surviving. you can't just decriminalize without also providing them with exit services. when women are given jobs, housing, child care, food, education, health care, they are not going to need the sex industry to survive. >> do you believe there could be people who do it voluntarily and of their own agency? >> i think they're the extreme minority. when you look at the army that makes us prostitutes, it's poor women, it's trans women, people of color, people who have been systematically shut out of other opportunities in life. when you look at studies, the majority of women say they want to leave prostitution. they do. so decriminalize the exploited, hold the exploiters accountable, provide exit services, and the right to not be prostituted by improving conditions for all of us at the bottom. did. >> it's a powerful message. but what makes it so urgent are the women fighting for their lives and the lives of their families. >> what does your mama mean to you? >> i love her and wish i could stay with her, like, all the time. in a lightweight formula it doesn't settle into your lines age perfect foundation by l'oreal paris we are worth it we're inspired by those people who see beyond a reflection. those who are proud to show themselves as they are. ♪ ♪ we're inspired by you. ♪ ♪ when traders tell us how to make thinkorswim even better, we listen. like jack. he wanted a streamlined version he could access anywhere, no download necessary. and kim. she wanted to execute a pre-set trade strategy in seconds. so we gave 'em thinkorswim web. because platforms this innovative, aren't just made for traders - they're made by them. thinkorswim trading. from td ameritrade. with voltaren arthritis pain gel. my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel for powerful arthritis pain relief. voltaren, the joy of movement. unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. that's how we've become the leader in 5g and a partner who delivers exceptional customer support, and 5g included in every plan, so you get it all. i feel like that's a good color. >> don't smile, you can't smile. it's going to mess it up. >> in the fight for reforming the sex trade, the stakes aren't just the lives of the men and women involved. >> baby girl is doing a good job. >> it's also a fight for those who depend on them. >> i've got to make sure there's no line, it would just look weird. >> what's your favorite thing to do with your mom? >> sometimes we'll watch a movie, we'll get popcorn. she'll make breakfast in the morning and make dinner at night. >> is she a good cook? >> she ruins pancakes for us. >> hey, she makes the effort. i don't make pancakes for my kids. after many tumultuous years in the life, monroe is only now starting to rebuild her relationship with her 11-year-old daughter. >> sometimes i've cried at night wishing she was there. but then when she finally came back, i would not even let her leave my sight. she wanted to use the restroom, i'd go with her. >> i think it's the fear of me not coming home. me and my daughters still have hard times discussing it. because there was a lot of times being out there where i would come home for a few days to see them, then i would leave, and the only time i can leave is at night so they're not flowing a fit. when they wake up, i'm not there, and i think that caused trauma to them. >> what does your mama mean to you? >> she means a lot, i love her. pretty much i wish i could stay with her, like, all the time. >> it's a challenge, but as monroe settles in, becoming a full-time mom, the life she left behind still threatens to derail both her and her family's future. >> got to make sure it lines up. >> how has your arrest record affected your life? >> completely. couldn't get a job. couldn't do nothing. there was a possibility of losing your kids. >> why do you want to share your story? >> because i want other people to know what we really feel like. stop judging us. stop looking at us like that. and take a second to think what we went through. >> this is the reality right now. even if you make it out of the life, you have a record. and as the debate over decriminalization rages on, the future for families like monroe's hang in the balance. decriminalization would help monroe clear her record and allow some security for her children's future. but as kristin tells me, it's only the first step. >> even in countries where it's decriminalized, they're still fighting the stigma and the stereotype. >> even if it does become decriminalized? >> yeah. there's a huge cost for being in this world. the world hates you. decriminalization just opens the door for, okay, now we can fight to be treated like other people. >> state by state, city by city, the fight for reform is finding allies. >> oregon can become the first state to decriminalize sex work. >> manhattan district attorney cy vance announced his office will no longer prosecute prostitution. >> many more seem poised to do the same. how many mothers and daughters and others have been locked up and trapped by criminal records? how many have been pushed into more and more dangerous forms of prostitution? most everyone agrees, the status quo is untenable. but whether we fully decriminalize the sex trade or just those who are most vulnerable, what's clear is change is needed now.

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