| Author | : Maria Luddy |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 366 |
| Release | : 2007-12-13 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0521709059 |
The first book to tackle the controversial history of prostitution in modern Ireland.
Matters of Deceit
| Author | : Maria Luddy |
| Publisher | : Four Courts Press |
| Total Pages | : 0 |
| Release | : 2011 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 9781846822940 |
In Irish history, marriage was of huge significance to women and men for social, emotional, and economic reasons. Married women had greater status than unmarried women. The most acceptable way to form families was through marriage and, as in all time periods, both men and women desired children. Economic stability - though not necessarily guaranteed by marriage - was an inducement to marriage for many women, especially in a society where paid employment opportunities for them were limited. A breach of promise to marry is a fundamental break of a promise - by either a man or woman - to carry through a marriage. However, as this book shows, breach of promise cases were not always straightforward. Exploring the history of breach of promise cases in Ireland allows an insight into courtship rituals. It reveals the significance of monetary considerations in marriage settlements and the value that was placed on women's - and men's - reputations. (Series: Maynooth Studies in Local History - Number 96)
Marriage in Ireland, 1660–1925
| Author | : Maria Luddy |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 463 |
| Release | : 2020-06-25 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1108788467 |
What were the laws on marriage in Ireland, and did church and state differ in their interpretation? How did men and women meet and arrange to marry? How important was patriarchy and a husband's control over his wife? And what were the options available to Irish men and women who wished to leave an unhappy marriage? This first comprehensive history of marriage in Ireland across three centuries looks below the level of elite society for a multi-faceted exploration of how marriage was perceived, negotiated and controlled by the church and state, as well as by individual men and women within Irish society. Making extensive use of new and under-utilised primary sources, Maria Luddy and Mary O'Dowd explain the laws and customs around marriage in Ireland. Revising current understandings of marital law and relations, Marriage in Ireland, 1660–1925 represents a major new contribution to Irish historical studies.
Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century Ireland
| Author | : Maria Luddy |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 269 |
| Release | : 1995-05-04 |
| Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
| ISBN | : 0521474337 |
This book examines the role of women in philanthropy in nineteenth-century Ireland. The author focuses initially on the impact of religion on the lives of women and argues that the development of convents in the nineteenth century inhibited the involvement of lay Catholic women in charity work. She goes on to claim that sectarianism dominated women's philanthropic activity, and also analyses the work of women in areas of moral concern, such as prostitution and prison work. The book concludes that the most progressive developments in the care of the poor were brought about by non-conformist women, and a number of women involved in reformist organisations were later to become pioneers in the cause of suffrage. This study makes an important contribution both to Irish history and to our knowledge of women's lives and experiences in the nineteenth century.
Origins of the Magdalene Laundries
| Author | : Rebecca Lea McCarthy |
| Publisher | : McFarland |
| Total Pages | : 271 |
| Release | : 2010-03-08 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0786455802 |
The convents, asylums, and laundries that once comprised the Magdalene institutions are the subject of this work. Though originally half-way homes for prostitutes in the Middle Ages, these homes often became forced-labor institutions, particularly in Ireland. Examining the laundries within the context of a growing world capitalist economy, the work argues that the process of colonization, and of defining a national image, determined the nature and longevity of the Magdalene Laundries. This process developed differently in Ireland, where the last laundry closed in 1996. The book focuses on the devolution of the significance of Mary Magdalene as a metaphor for the organization: from an affluent, strong supporter of Jesus to a simple, fallen woman.
Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containment
| Author | : James M. Smith |
| Publisher | : University of Notre Dame Pess |
| Total Pages | : 288 |
| Release | : 2007-09-01 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0268182183 |
The Magdalen laundries were workhouses in which many Irish women and girls were effectively imprisoned because they were perceived to be a threat to the moral fiber of society. Mandated by the Irish state beginning in the eighteenth century, they were operated by various orders of the Catholic Church until the last laundry closed in 1996. A few years earlier, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their Magdalen convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed, cremated, and buried elsewhere in a mass grave. This triggered a public scandal in Ireland and since then the Magdalen laundries have become an important issue in Irish culture, especially with the 2002 release of the film The Magdalene Sisters. Focusing on the ten Catholic Magdalen laundries operating between 1922 and 1996, Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containment offers the first history of women entering these institutions in the twentieth century. Because the religious orders have not opened their archival records, Smith argues that Ireland's Magdalen institutions continue to exist in the public mind primarily at the level of story (cultural representation and survivor testimony) rather than history (archival history and documentation). Addressed to academic and general readers alike, James M. Smith's book accomplishes three primary objectives. First, it connects what history we have of the Magdalen laundries to Ireland's “architecture of containment” that made undesirable segments of the female population such as illegitimate children, single mothers, and sexually promiscuous women literally invisible. Second, it critically evaluates cultural representations in drama and visual art of the laundries that have, over the past fifteen years, brought them significant attention in Irish culture. Finally, Smith challenges the nation—church, state, and society—to acknowledge its complicity in Ireland's Magdalen scandal and to offer redress for victims and survivors alike.
The Murder of Helen Jewett
| Author | : Patricia Cline Cohen |
| Publisher | : Vintage |
| Total Pages | : 514 |
| Release | : 1999-06-29 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0679740759 |
In 1836, the murder of a young prostitute made headlines in New York City and around the country, inaugurating a sex-and-death sensationalism in news reporting that haunts us today. Patricia Cline Cohen goes behind these first lurid accounts to reconstruct the story of the mysterious victim, Helen Jewett. From her beginnings as a servant girl in Maine, Helen Jewett refashioned herself, using four successive aliases, into a highly paid courtesan. She invented life stories for herself that helped her build a sympathetic clientele among New York City's elite, and she further captivated her customers through her seductive letters, which mixed elements of traditional feminine demureness with sexual boldness. But she was to meet her match--and her nemesis--in a youth called Richard Robinson. He was one of an unprecedented number of young men who flooded into America's burgeoning cities in the 1830s to satisfy the new business society's seemingly infinite need for clerks. The son of an established Connecticut family, he was intense, arrogant, and given to posturing. He became Helen Jewett's lover in a tempestuous affair and ten months later was arrested for her murder. He stood trial in a five-day courtroom drama that ended with his acquittal amid the cheers of hundreds of fellow clerks and other spectators. With no conviction for murder, nor closure of any sort, the case continued to tantalize the public, even though Richard Robinson disappeared from view. Through the Erie Canal, down the Ohio and the Mississippi, and by way of New Orleans, he reached the wilds of Texas and a new life under a new name. Through her meticulous and ingenious research, Patricia Cline Cohen traces his life there and the many twists and turns of the lingering mystery of the murder. Her stunning portrayals of Helen Jewett, Robinson, and their raffish, colorful nineteenth-century world make vivid a frenetic city life and sexual morality whose complexities, contradictions, and concerns resonate with those of our own time.
The Price of Sex
| Author | : Belinda Brooks-Gordon |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 314 |
| Release | : 2013-06-17 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1134020511 |
This book aims to provide a critical perspective on prostitution policies and the legal chaos and complexities that surround them. It addresses the range of issues and contemporary debates on the sex industry, and then goes on to show how these issues have been addressed in policy terms, the problems that have emerged in this, and how a social policy might be formulated to minimize harm and enhance public understanding.
