BBC Radio did a nice piece on the history of these "laundries" where women deemed to be "sluts" were basically enslaved through their lives to hard labor doing laundry or mass producing clothing. Knowing this history, perhaps some of the men here can understand why the use of "slut" or other gender-based slurs is every bit as offensive as the "N" word is to African Americans.These victims have tried repeatedly to appeal for redress or even an official apology and been rebuffed. It was not merely an Irish thing, either. A BBC documentary about these poor women was made in 2003 and is still available Magdalene asylum (Madalene Laundry)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_asylumMagdalene Laundry in Ireland, c. early 20th century
Magdalene asylums were institutions for so-called "fallen women". Asylums for "fallen women" operated throughout Europe, Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States for much of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century. The first asylum in Ireland opened on Leeson Street in Dublin in 1767, founded by Lady Arabella Denny. In Belfast there was a Church of Ireland run Ulster Magdalene Asylum (founded in 1839) on Donegall Pass, while parallel institutions were run by Catholics on Ormeau Road and Presbyterians on Whitehall Parade.<1>
Initially the mission of the asylums was often to rehabilitate women back into society, but by the early twentieth century the homes had become increasingly punitive and prison like (at least in Ireland and Scotland). In most asylums, the inmates were required to undertake hard physical labour, including laundry and needle work. They also endured a daily regime that included long periods of prayer and enforced silence. In Ireland, such asylums were known as Magdalene laundries. It has been estimated that up to 30,000 women passed through such laundries in Ireland.<2> The last Magdalene asylum in the Republic of Ireland closed on September 25, 1996.
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The Magdalene Sisters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magdalene_SistersThe Magdalene Sisters
The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 film written and directed by Peter Mullan about teenage girls who were sent to Magdalene Asylums, otherwise known as the 'Magdalene Laundries': homes for women who were labeled as "fallen" by their families or society (though the film questions this). The homes were maintained by individual religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.
Peter Mullan has remarked that the film was initially made because victims of Magdalene Asylums had received no closure in the form of recognition, compensation, or apology, and many remained lifelong devout Catholics.<2> Former Magdalen inmate Mary-Jo McDonagh told Mullan that the reality of the Magdalene Asylums was much worse than depicted in the film.<3>
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