The Magdalene Laundries cast a long, dark shadow over the relationship
 many Irish women have with sex, transforming it into something shameful
 and guilt-ridden. While the last laundry closed in 1996, this shadow 
remains and is kept alive by a powerful force: Ruhama, an organisation 
for women affected by sex work.
Sex remains something of a dirty concept in Irish society. Though it is in the margins of discourse, it is at the centre of most people’s minds. Why is it, in an age of hyper-sexuality, that Catholic sexual teaching still permeates national school sex education? Why is it that such teaching features in our government’s policy in both overt and covert ways? Why is it that, Ruhama, a state-funded organisation, is made up of the same groups that ran the Magdalene Laundries?
http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/04/the-churchs-lingering-shadows-on-sex-work-in-ireland/?doing_wp_cron=1473427113.8833920955657958984375
Sex remains something of a dirty concept in Irish society. Though it is in the margins of discourse, it is at the centre of most people’s minds. Why is it, in an age of hyper-sexuality, that Catholic sexual teaching still permeates national school sex education? Why is it that such teaching features in our government’s policy in both overt and covert ways? Why is it that, Ruhama, a state-funded organisation, is made up of the same groups that ran the Magdalene Laundries?
http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/04/the-churchs-lingering-shadows-on-sex-work-in-ireland/?doing_wp_cron=1473427113.8833920955657958984375
 
