Sex for Hire: Real Stories of Prostitution in America

'Anything Can Happen'

Street prostitutes are obviously the most vulnerable.

Jessica, another prostitute who works the streets outside Philadelphia said, "The Friday after Thanksgiving I got robbed at gunpoint, beat in the head with a gun [and] I've been stabbed -- [I needed] 127 stitches."

"Every time you get into a car you know anything can happen. You can get raped, you can get killed, you have all different types of people out here," explained a prostitute named Audrey.

Be it glamorized prostitution with high-end escorts, poverty stricken street hookers or legal working women in the sex trade, these women all share some things in common. Sexual abuse at a young age, broken homes and addictions to drugs and alcohol all lead women to pursue lives that aid them in getting money any way they can.

During her investigation into the lives of prostitutes, Diane Sawyer asked Skylar, a college graduate turned street prostitute what it would take for her to change her life.

"I don't know," Skylar said. "Maybe watching this when it airs."