Once You Cross a Street You’re on the Edge of a Cliff: Surviving the Sex Industry in Korea

A$34.95

Bomnal                  
Translated by: Hyebin Shin

Prostitution is the oldest “profession” in the world—that’s what they say. According to Havocsope, total prostitution revenue is $186 billion worldwide, with 40-42 million women prostituted. The number itself is staggering, but the reality is hard to grasp with the statistics only. Bomnal’s memoir Once You Cross a Street, You’re on the Edge of a Cliff is a personal record of her twenty years in prostitution and a firsthand report of the industry people call “sex trade” with a clear statement that prostitution is not a profession, but oppression.

Bomnal’s personal history starkly presents a larger picture of the prostitution industry: how the pimps trap women with “advance payments”; the physical and sexual abuse of the “clients”; and the close relationship between the police and brothels. This system built upon the exploitation of women makes it so easy for women to take a step into the industry and much harder to seek escape from it. At this point, the boundary between “forced” versus “voluntary” prostitution is pointless—all it takes is one misstep.

With an honest and brave voice, Bomnal not only revisits her past but also calls for hope and solidarity. “When I crossed a street, I never knew I would be standing on a cliff. I couldn’t avoid the plunge, but I found people waiting down there. It took a long time until I climbed back, and I’m still in the middle of the process. But the point is, some people reached out their hands to me and helped me get back on my feet,” said Bomnal in an interview. Beyond all the myths surrounding the “sex trade”, there is truth resounding in her trace: prostitution is not a choice and should never be one. And there’s always a way out.

19 AUGUST 2025 |  ISBN 9781925950922 | Paperback | 152 mm x 229 mm | 232 pages

Bomnal                  
Translated by: Hyebin Shin

Prostitution is the oldest “profession” in the world—that’s what they say. According to Havocsope, total prostitution revenue is $186 billion worldwide, with 40-42 million women prostituted. The number itself is staggering, but the reality is hard to grasp with the statistics only. Bomnal’s memoir Once You Cross a Street, You’re on the Edge of a Cliff is a personal record of her twenty years in prostitution and a firsthand report of the industry people call “sex trade” with a clear statement that prostitution is not a profession, but oppression.

Bomnal’s personal history starkly presents a larger picture of the prostitution industry: how the pimps trap women with “advance payments”; the physical and sexual abuse of the “clients”; and the close relationship between the police and brothels. This system built upon the exploitation of women makes it so easy for women to take a step into the industry and much harder to seek escape from it. At this point, the boundary between “forced” versus “voluntary” prostitution is pointless—all it takes is one misstep.

With an honest and brave voice, Bomnal not only revisits her past but also calls for hope and solidarity. “When I crossed a street, I never knew I would be standing on a cliff. I couldn’t avoid the plunge, but I found people waiting down there. It took a long time until I climbed back, and I’m still in the middle of the process. But the point is, some people reached out their hands to me and helped me get back on my feet,” said Bomnal in an interview. Beyond all the myths surrounding the “sex trade”, there is truth resounding in her trace: prostitution is not a choice and should never be one. And there’s always a way out.

19 AUGUST 2025 |  ISBN 9781925950922 | Paperback | 152 mm x 229 mm | 232 pages

Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade
Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade
A$29.95
Body Shell Girl
Body Shell Girl
A$26.95

Endorsements

Bomnal's story tells of her years in prostitution, and the abuse in childhood that preceded them. But the real story is her insight into how sex industries work, and why men as sex-buyers fuel this trade in female misery. Her vivid writing produces a unique picture of South Korea society over the last four decades in which sexual exploitation accompanied economic success. As a leading feminist and anti-prostitution activist today, Bomnal's story of her survival in the sex trade offers readers a rare and gripping account of global women's condition they will not easily forget.
—Caroline Norma, co-editor of Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade

Welcome to the world of prostitution in South Korea where “going for a second round” means something different than you might think, where women wait for punters in glass room alleys – and where everyone from the owners of dress stores to STD clinics is on the take. In the face of violence, degradation, and dizzying corruption, Bomnal tells a triumphant story of resilience and courage. A heart-rending and vital testimony about the realities of the prostitution industry and the scars it leaves behind.

—Rose Hunter, author of Body Shell Girl

The basis of the huge worldwide industry of prostitution lies in the sexual enslavement of women for men’s pleasure and profit, and this book describes that reality extremely well. It describes how women in Korea are trapped by debt slavery in a system they cannot leave, but the experiences are common to the industry whether in Korea, Australia, Germany – everywhere that male pimp states tolerate this vicious trade. It describes the extreme physical and mental suffering, loneliness and humiliation. We should all be grateful to Bomnal for detailing her experience in such a devastating way. It explodes the idea that women ‘choose’ this abuse or that it should be seen as a ‘job like any other’. It makes it clear why we need to abolish this form of violence against women.

— Sheila Jeffreys, author of The Idea of Prostitution and Uprooting Male Dominance