Abstract

In existing studies, analyses of Kim Mal-bong’s figuration of sex workers have tended to focus on novels about the campaign to abolish the licensed prostitution system which are published after the liberation period. This article aims to discuss Kim’s figuration of sex workers including her novels during the colonial period. The selected texts are “The Dense Forest”(1935-1938), “The Multiflora Rose”(1937), and “The Splendid Hell”(1951). By focusing on how female sex workers are portrayed in each novels, I found that they are presented as subjects with their own desires and agency in “The Dense Forest” and “The Multiflora Rose”, while their agency is absent in “The Splendid Hell”. This paper traces the cause of this regression to Kim’s inclination toward the dichotomy of ‘voluntary/non-voluntary prostitution’. Furthermore, this article argues that it is necessary to build a paradigm of prostitution which breaks away from the ‘voluntary/non-voluntary’ dichotomy. The conceptual framework of ‘sex work’ could be an alternative. It is a broader concept which could connect prostituted women and non-prostituted women. Through this, we can imagine prostituted women as objects of solidarity rather than of salvation or exclusion.