Spinifex Press

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.

The United Kingdom has been labelled Terf Island - sometimes affectionately and sometimes contemptuously - for its successful resistance to transgender ideology. This is the story of the brave and determined women who led the charge against trans activist demands which undermined their rights and jeopardised the physical and mental health of children. They dragged shadowy campaigns into the daylight, exposing the harm that would result, and the harm that had already been done. They forced policy change, set legal precedents and changed public opinion. Fiona McAnena has been right there campaigning with them. Her unique insight and personal involvement brings to life the intimate human stories behind the movement to Keep Britain Terfy. This extraordinary, inspiring, furious and sometimes funny account shows how a few women acting on their convictions turned back a tide which threatened to sweep away the rights their foremothers fought for. The United Kingdom has been labelled Terf Island - sometimes affectionately and sometimes contemptuously - for its successful resistance to transgender ideology. This is the story of the brave and determined women who led the charge against trans activist demands which undermined their rights and jeopardised the physical and mental health of children. They dragged shadowy campaigns into the daylight, exposing the harm that would result, and the harm that had already been done. They forced policy change, set legal precedents and changed public opinion. Fiona McAnena has been right there campaigning with them. Her unique insight and personal involvement brings to life the intimate human stories behind the movement to Keep Britain Terfy. This extraordinary, inspiring, furious and sometimes funny account shows how a few women acting on their convictions turned back a tide which threatened to sweep away the rights their foremothers fought for.

For a mother, the death of a child under any circumstances is unbearable. When the child is severed from the mother’s life by his or her own hand, the cleaving is particularly brutal. It is a bereavement with no equivalence in human experience.If you are a mother today, you are mothering in patriarchy. What that means, and how it might impact a mother grieving the loss of her child to suicide, is a subject Donna Johnson explores in this profound book. Johnson, in her counselling role in a police service, worked closely with mothers who lost a child to suicide, supporting them through those firsttraumatic days, weeks and months as the impact of suicide reverberated throughout their lives.What struck her was the absence of specific supports for mothers and the prevalence of a type of paralysis in the mothers. The burden of overwhelming guilt, shame and a huge sense of failure – emotions not shared by the fathers of the children – impeded the possibility ofmothers recovering from their child’s suicide. In Shattered Motherhood, Donna Johnson argues for specific supports for mothers in these circumstances; supports that meet their unique needs, recognise the depth of their suffering and provide them with proper care. Through a feminist lens, she considers the institutions of marriage, motherhood and the family as well as the suffering of mothers who have lost a child to suicide.Johnson articulates her belief in the power of women coming together to name their own experiences, feel their own pain and search for their own solutions.