On Dec. 8, HBO will air a documentary filmed at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a Lyon County, Nevada brothel. "Cathouse," a part of HBO's "America Undercover" series, was filmed using hidden cameras to catch the brothel's clients' "dealing" with prostitutes; the clients were later told they had been filmed and almost all gave their consent to allow HBO to use the footage, according to abcnews.com.

This documentary is yet another in the seemingly endless and completely out-of-hand parade of "reality" television shows where people will do anything to be on TV -- it's "Big Brother" meets the "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." It's also glamorizing and misrepresenting a wholly unglamorous and dangerous

profession.

According to abcnews.com, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch opened its doors in 1955, 17 years before prostitution became legal in Lyon County in 1972. The owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, Dennis Hof, purchased the business in 1993 and set out to make it "America's premier house of ill repute."

He added a helicopter pad and more than 200 sex workers are employed. Many famous clients are alleged to have visited the brothel, including Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura and Larry Flynt. John Wayne Bobbitt and the "Celebrity Boxing" veteran Joey Buttafucco have worked as official greeters.

Dennis Hof told "Entertainment Tonight," "It's a party, it's a spring break party, 24/7, 365, that's what the Moonlite Bunny Ranch is." Sunset Thomas, a porn star and Adult Video Hall of Fame inductee, as well as Hof's girlfriend, will be featured in the documentary. Also in the show is "Julia," a new, married prostitute with children who loved the idea because it allows her to "be with (her) fans."

Hof pledges, "You're going to see things you won't believe," such as a woman taking her 22-year-old son to the ranch to lose his virginity. Reuters says you'll also see a married couple celebrating their 15th anniversary with a menage a trois, a widower who has gone without sex for two years and just wants to be cuddled and a pimp who tries coaxing away one of the girls.

According to Reuters, no sex is shown in the documentary. What is shown is a mixture of "bargaining, seduction, provocative touching and nervous laughter, up through and including payment -- in advance -- to Madam Suzette."

Except, no matter how much Dennis Hof spruced up the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, sex work is still dangerous and unhealthy. The "documentary" certainly will not show the less sensational aspects of prostitution.

While brothel workers are considerably better off than streetwalkers and call girls -- they are free of pimps, regularly tested for sexually transmitted diseases and have more control over what they do -- they still suffer from many of the same emotional problems. When asked if they had considered suicide, 42 percent of brothel workers said yes; 19 percent had actually attempted to kill themselves, according to sociologist Robert H. Lauer. They also suffer from emotional problems such as anxiety, hostility, depression and guilt. Prostitution is not a spring break party, and to promote it as such is disgusting.

But HBO is not stopping at the misrepresentation of prostitution for entertainment purposes. The "America Undercover" series has other topics to tackle as well. "The Ice Man and the Psychiatrist" explores a hit man who admits to killing more than 200 people. In January, HBO will be airing "Animal Passions," which deals with the life of a rural Missouri man who legally resides with his "wife," a pony -- an actual pony. Other shows in the series include "Taxicab Confessions 2003: Girls Like It Hot," "Autopsy 9" and "Cannibal: The Real Hannibal Lecter." There's nothing like sex and gore to pull in the ratings.

Hof, who gets half of everything the brothel workers earn, and HBO are exploiting the 200 women working at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch for their own gain. They are only showing the side of prostitution that sells, which will surely bring viewers in droves, and ignoring everything else. Apparently, emotional problems are a little too real for "reality" TV.