JENNY’S IN-DEPTH Regression

ALL GIRLS TOGETHER

Dear Jenny

Since the age of 12, I’ve been drawn to ladies of the night. I’ve always had a fascination with them, especially those from Victorian times. I often have strange dreams about them! Brigitte, 52, Acton, London

Magdalen Laundry

It’s the late 1700s, in Dublin. Your name is Peggy, and you’re a 15-year-old beggar who’s found yourself imprisoned in a socalled Magdalen ‘Laundry’. You’re very scared at first as you you come to realise that this ‘laundry’ is somewhere that prostitutes are taken to do menial work for 12 hours a day, for a very small amount of payment. It was designed to ‘wash the women clean’, hence the name. You’re not a prostitute but you find something in this place that you’ve never had - sisterhood, a family.

Fearful

You hear stories of women going missing, of graves being dug at night. You’re terrified, and when you get the chance to leave the ‘laundry’ and go into employment as a maid, you jump at the chance.

Lonely

You are sad. You may have escaped possible death, but you’ve lost all that camaraderie, friendship, family and sisterhood. You’d grown close to some of the women, and learned that prostitution wasn’t their choice, that the stories told about them being ‘fallen women’ were not true; if they had fallen, it was only into bad times and poverty, and a lot of them had actually been forced into selling themselves by their husbands.

Helping others

You do all you can to help other women, although you have very little chance to do much and no power.