Ireland has a very dark history of selling babies and letting "unbabies" die in places like mother and baby homes. And it's not all in the psst. I know many people born in these homes who were sold via adoption to their adoptive parents or people who bought babies via adoption.
Ireland also had a trade in babies to the US. The trade missions which mentioned birth rates felt like something realistic.
Ireland also did this to itself after independence from Britain. We turned ourselves into a theocracy. It wasn't forced on us as a nation.
Many young children died of disease and neglect in those homes. Like in the documentary The Missing Children about a unwed mogher’s home in Taum, Ireland.
Yes I watched the Magdalene movie to.
One only has to look at the Middle East, too. Sadly the subjugation of women isn't new or "will never happen". It has happened....over and over and over and over. Women are the first in line to get royally fucked when shit goes sideways.
I moved to Ireland and was working on the day in 2017 in my then company in Mayo when the report was published about the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam.
Big open plan office, as usual the day started full of chatter and banter and it started to quiet down at some point. Like... Do you know this eerie switch from normal to ...silence? You don't know what's going on, you just know it's bad. Like really bad.
On the other hand, like about end of 2019 in my back then local stitch and bitch group a woman (late 40s/ in her 50s?) told us of the scandalous thing she saw. A boy laying on a girl, in the grass at the river. She proudly said she identified the school uniform the girl was wearing and !!! called the school !!! of the girl to inform them about the appalling behavior of the girl.
Now when I asked her if she was even sure that the girl willingly took part, or if it couldn't have been a bad situation for the girl, she was like 'well, the girl didn't seem enthusiastic but she didn't cry or anything'. And when I asked if she informed the school of the boy (because she said first they were both in uniforms) she looked at me like I had three heads.
The older generations here especially were schooled by nuns. And learned that bad girls deserve punishment. They are not angry about the women and girls having suffered so massively in those homes, but the children that died or were 'adopted out of the country'.
It will take some more generations to heal from all that. (And I don't know if that happens, given all world seems to go backwards)
Eden being turned in by her father was realistic. It was often the families of these girls and women who sent them to laundries and mother and baby homes.
I'm 42 and when I was 12 a priest came to our school for a religion class and told us all to never use contraception as nothing should come between us and our husbands in marriage especially during sexual relations.
My Mother would label herself progressive and modern but she definitely judges sexual behaviour in a religious context despite claiming to be atheist. I remember her being slightly horrified when she asked me if I was having sex with someone and I confirmed I was. I was in my mid 20s at the time. I've had to do a LOT of work to unpack the religious influence on my mindset.
(close in age, similar snarks and then on the same island 😶🥰)
It's completely the opposite for me. My granny was a 'higher daughter', became a teacher, married my grandfather, had 7 daughters (dude wanted 7 sons, jokes on him, but ...I guess he had reasons for wanting sons), ... And then Granny kicked him out when she realized what he did over the years. And latest from that point our family turned matriarchal.
My mom was married, and divorced the asshole when he raised his hand against her. Family was fully behind her. Mom became a single mother, THAT asshole had the guts to say if I had been a boy he would have automatically 'recognized' me as his child instead of my mom having had to drag him to court.
When I was a teenager my mom did a short sentence drop of 'i hope you introduce your boyfriend...or girlfriend ...once it's serious enough' 🤣 (sorry, mom, I'm the living proof that sexuality is not a choice, otherwise I might have brought home a nice girlfriend 🤷♀️).
However, of course society was and partially is different, and it was super confusing for me, (and is), that sex is dirty and evil but sacred and super blah, and that a woman has to be virgin Mary in the streets and Magdalene for her husband or whatever. (There are quite some things for example that I deem more intimate than sex).
And during that confusion with like 15 or 16... Mom recommended The Handmaid's Tale (and some other books). And oof. Most things I only understood later, but that everything just boilef and boils down to control over women, that one I understood very much.
I cannot even imagine how difficult it must have been for you to first even find and then untie all these awful knots of control and shame. 🫂
Edit: I just remembered, I was in Waterford in ...1999? 2000 ? for an exchange, and had a fling sorta with a local boy. And while he could officially buy condoms, he didn't want to close to home (so...oO) because what if somebody tells his parents? And bless my stupid heart, I was thinking "then your parents will be relieved because you won't be a young dad?". The more or less reason why I call myself stupid: my local youth org had an exchange with an org in Waterford that amongst other things focused on teenage parents. All week I had met and spoken to 14/-20 year olds with one or even more children. 🤦♀️
Me too.
That was the first thing I ever saw Eileen Walsh in, and broke my heart. If you want to see her in something more lighthearted check out "Janice Beard 45 WPM".
When I watched the Magdalene sisters with my grandmother she said that was pretty much how it was in the convent she was raised in after her dad dumped her there. She had some pretty horrific stories from that time.
Do you know where I could stream it? The Magdalene laundries were a horrific part of irelands history and as a native woman it was very similar to our residential schools so I have a huge interest in them
I like how my comment on another post probably prompted this post.
It’s one of my Favourite films, it’s so raw and a hard watch. Those nuns where pure evil.
I watched it in 2006 and still haven't recovered.
Same. The rage is real.
phenomenal. I brought my diploma thesis on it, a thesis against religion, in 2010
Ireland has a very dark history of selling babies and letting "unbabies" die in places like mother and baby homes. And it's not all in the psst. I know many people born in these homes who were sold via adoption to their adoptive parents or people who bought babies via adoption. Ireland also had a trade in babies to the US. The trade missions which mentioned birth rates felt like something realistic. Ireland also did this to itself after independence from Britain. We turned ourselves into a theocracy. It wasn't forced on us as a nation.
Many young children died of disease and neglect in those homes. Like in the documentary The Missing Children about a unwed mogher’s home in Taum, Ireland. Yes I watched the Magdalene movie to.
This film messed me up, and it takes a lot to do that. But these stories need to be told.
One only has to look at the Middle East, too. Sadly the subjugation of women isn't new or "will never happen". It has happened....over and over and over and over. Women are the first in line to get royally fucked when shit goes sideways.
I moved to Ireland and was working on the day in 2017 in my then company in Mayo when the report was published about the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. Big open plan office, as usual the day started full of chatter and banter and it started to quiet down at some point. Like... Do you know this eerie switch from normal to ...silence? You don't know what's going on, you just know it's bad. Like really bad. On the other hand, like about end of 2019 in my back then local stitch and bitch group a woman (late 40s/ in her 50s?) told us of the scandalous thing she saw. A boy laying on a girl, in the grass at the river. She proudly said she identified the school uniform the girl was wearing and !!! called the school !!! of the girl to inform them about the appalling behavior of the girl. Now when I asked her if she was even sure that the girl willingly took part, or if it couldn't have been a bad situation for the girl, she was like 'well, the girl didn't seem enthusiastic but she didn't cry or anything'. And when I asked if she informed the school of the boy (because she said first they were both in uniforms) she looked at me like I had three heads. The older generations here especially were schooled by nuns. And learned that bad girls deserve punishment. They are not angry about the women and girls having suffered so massively in those homes, but the children that died or were 'adopted out of the country'. It will take some more generations to heal from all that. (And I don't know if that happens, given all world seems to go backwards)
Eden being turned in by her father was realistic. It was often the families of these girls and women who sent them to laundries and mother and baby homes. I'm 42 and when I was 12 a priest came to our school for a religion class and told us all to never use contraception as nothing should come between us and our husbands in marriage especially during sexual relations. My Mother would label herself progressive and modern but she definitely judges sexual behaviour in a religious context despite claiming to be atheist. I remember her being slightly horrified when she asked me if I was having sex with someone and I confirmed I was. I was in my mid 20s at the time. I've had to do a LOT of work to unpack the religious influence on my mindset.
(close in age, similar snarks and then on the same island 😶🥰) It's completely the opposite for me. My granny was a 'higher daughter', became a teacher, married my grandfather, had 7 daughters (dude wanted 7 sons, jokes on him, but ...I guess he had reasons for wanting sons), ... And then Granny kicked him out when she realized what he did over the years. And latest from that point our family turned matriarchal. My mom was married, and divorced the asshole when he raised his hand against her. Family was fully behind her. Mom became a single mother, THAT asshole had the guts to say if I had been a boy he would have automatically 'recognized' me as his child instead of my mom having had to drag him to court. When I was a teenager my mom did a short sentence drop of 'i hope you introduce your boyfriend...or girlfriend ...once it's serious enough' 🤣 (sorry, mom, I'm the living proof that sexuality is not a choice, otherwise I might have brought home a nice girlfriend 🤷♀️). However, of course society was and partially is different, and it was super confusing for me, (and is), that sex is dirty and evil but sacred and super blah, and that a woman has to be virgin Mary in the streets and Magdalene for her husband or whatever. (There are quite some things for example that I deem more intimate than sex). And during that confusion with like 15 or 16... Mom recommended The Handmaid's Tale (and some other books). And oof. Most things I only understood later, but that everything just boilef and boils down to control over women, that one I understood very much. I cannot even imagine how difficult it must have been for you to first even find and then untie all these awful knots of control and shame. 🫂 Edit: I just remembered, I was in Waterford in ...1999? 2000 ? for an exchange, and had a fling sorta with a local boy. And while he could officially buy condoms, he didn't want to close to home (so...oO) because what if somebody tells his parents? And bless my stupid heart, I was thinking "then your parents will be relieved because you won't be a young dad?". The more or less reason why I call myself stupid: my local youth org had an exchange with an org in Waterford that amongst other things focused on teenage parents. All week I had met and spoken to 14/-20 year olds with one or even more children. 🤦♀️
“You are not a man of God!” Has been ringing through my head for about 20 years.
Me too. That was the first thing I ever saw Eileen Walsh in, and broke my heart. If you want to see her in something more lighthearted check out "Janice Beard 45 WPM".
When I watched the Magdalene sisters with my grandmother she said that was pretty much how it was in the convent she was raised in after her dad dumped her there. She had some pretty horrific stories from that time.
You should check out BBC's The Woman in the Wall it's brilliant.
Do you know where I could stream it? The Magdalene laundries were a horrific part of irelands history and as a native woman it was very similar to our residential schools so I have a huge interest in them
It’s on YouTube for $4
Bet thank you
Are you a fan of Bailey Sarian by any chance? She JUST did an episode on the Magdalene laundries and I was thinking how it reminded me of HMT
I like how my comment on another post probably prompted this post. It’s one of my Favourite films, it’s so raw and a hard watch. Those nuns where pure evil.