You know how nuns in the Twenty-First Century are like your adorable aunt who never married. In this metaphor, your aunt is super religious but doesn’t mind if you bring your same-sex date to a family gathering or anything like that. They’re not the fun aunts who buy you liquor or date men less than half their age (I have one of those and she is delightful), but they’re not the family member whom you dread seeing, either.

And, nowadays, nuns are kind of out of the cross-hairs of people taking aim at the Catholic Church’s anti-women and anti-gay policies. After all, American nuns have been officially chastised by the Vatican for “working too much on programs for the poor” instead of concentrating on opposing female reproductive autonomy or marriage equality.

However, it is important to note that this was not always what nuns were like or how they were viewed. I don’t watch American Horror Story because, honestly, what I have seen of the show seems to rely more upon shock value (I tend to expect the worst and not be easily shocked) than telling a story that I find intriguing. That said, Jessica Lange’s character in season two (American Horror Story: Asylum), Sister Jude, is more or less (as portrayed in the first couple of episodes of that season) representative of how nuns were viewed a half-century ago. Strict, physically abusive disciplinarians who brutalized children and the poor or insane who were entrusted to their care.

I am not saying that that is what nuns were like a long time ago. But that is the stereotype. And it is a horrifying one.

Magdalene Laundries were an institution that held poor Irish women who had nowhere else to go. In some cases, they were sent there by the state for committing certain crimes. In other cases, they checked in because they were desperate for a place to stay for a little while and had no other place to go.

The historical view of these institutions is disputed. One view is that these institutions, believed to primarily house prostitutes, were places where women were held against their will, used for slave labor, and subjected to violence by the nuns who oversaw their work. The other is a place where many women came and went, were chastised and belittled, and worked in exchange for less-than-desirable accommodations.

I’m no expert on Irish history, but my suspicion is that the truth lies somewhere in between. Which, honestly, tends to be how the world works. You can read more about recent findings and debate about these controversial institutions here. Suffice it to say that no one seems to agree at the moment.

How society treats its own members is one of the most defining elements for any society. Children, non-human animals who are nonetheless part of our society (dogs and cats are part of our families—that makes them part of our society), ethnic minorities, racial minorities, religious minorities, sexual minorities, the developmentally disabled, the psychologically challenged, and women are among the most frequently and broadly mistreated groups in history. That list is entirely too long.

Ireland has made a lot of strides in the right direction, but it is important to learn the truth about the past. One way or the other, however, both reports indicate severe inequality when it came to the treatment of women in history. Let’s never have a repeat of Magdalene Laundries, under any guise, okay?

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