Flipping Tables, Ep. 50: "Wayward Girls"

Host: Monte Mader
Date: January 12, 2026

Episode Overview

In this powerful and emotionally charged episode, Monte Mader explores the deep-rooted double standards, abuses, and ongoing legacies of institutions designed to control "wayward girls"—from Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries to America’s homes for unwed mothers, including one still operating on the campus of her alma mater, Liberty University. Mader, a former alt-right evangelical turned progressive, uses her signature blend of historical research, sarcasm, righteous anger, and first-person insight to connect the historical mistreatment of women’s sexuality to current events, abortion bans, and the resurgence of coercive maternity facilities.

Main Themes

• Societal Double Standards in Sexuality and Reproduction
• Historical Abuse of Women in Magdalene Laundries and U.S. Maternity Homes
• Modern Parallels: Abortion Bans, Adoption for Profit, Religious Institutions
• Personal Narratives and Survivor Testimony
• Advocacy for Bodily Autonomy and Institutional Accountability

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Satire and Reversal: Exposing the Double Standard

[03:30 - 08:00]

• Monte opens with a biting, satirical newscast imagining a world where men face the same scrutiny and surveillance for out-of-wedlock parenthood as women do, including the hypothetical “SNAP for Men” and moral policing of men’s sexuality.
  • "No one is suggesting we monitor their clothing, track their urethras, or legislate their gym shorts... We just never imagined holding men accountable for reproduction. That feels so extreme." — Monte [03:00]
• She then calls out how stark the gendered hypocrisy is once the roles are reversed.
  • "All I did was take all the things people say about women and single mothers and I made it a guy. A world where unwed mothers are a crisis but unwed fathers are just not ready... Where we tell her to keep her legs closed and somehow never finish that sentence with 'he should have kept it in his pants.'" — Monte [05:10]

2. Institutionalizing Shame: Magdalene Laundries in Ireland

[18:30 - 53:00]

• Historical background of Magdalene Laundries as punitive institutions for “fallen women”—not only pregnant girls, but any girls deemed difficult, pretty, homeless, or even victims of sexual assault.
  • "You were sent to a laundry if you were a victim of sexual assault, if you were perceived as flirtatious, or simply because you were too pretty. They would literally erase these girls’ identities." — Monte [34:55]
• Details brutal living and working conditions: unpaid slave labor, humiliation, work to death, psychological erasure, and posthumous anonymity (burials in mass, unmarked graves).
• Role of religious and state authorities in constructing and perpetuating these abuses; financial profiteering by the church and the state.
  • "Much of the detailed knowledge… comes from survivor testimony... All these girls tell the same story, whether they were incarcerated in the 20s, 30s, 40s, or in the 70s and 80s..." — Monte [41:40]
• Irish state’s eventual partial acknowledgement and apology, but limited and often re-traumatizing redress, and continued lack of full accountability by religious orders.
• Key turning point: 1998 documentary “Sex in a Cold Climate” and 1993 exhumation of mass graves.

3. How Laws Created Double Standards

[26:00 - 31:00]

• Summarizes the legal regimes that laid the groundwork:
  • 1803 Ellenborough Act (abortion criminalized by men).
  • “Bastardy clauses” of 1834: women could not collect child support unless married, placing all the burden on mothers—even in cases of rape or abuse by employers.
  • "Men were amazing, incredible, God-ordained leaders, but couldn’t possibly be expected to control themselves or take responsibility... Only the women could take the fallout." — Monte [28:10]
• Monte’s own research: myth-busting the “family court favors women” narrative, showing that when fathers request it, they get custody 72% of the time; most simply do not ask and do not pay full child support.

4. The “Baby Scoop Era” and U.S. Homes for Unwed Mothers

[1:12:30 - 2:08:30]

• From late 19th century “rescue homes” to 20th century maternity homes: most started as refuges, morphed into tools of control, shame, and forced adoption.
• By the 1950s-60s, 200+ homes, with 25,000+ women annually. Institutions operated primarily for white girls; Black girls were often kept out or viewed through racist lenses.
• Life inside: forced use of false names, isolation from family, scrutinized for “repentance,” coercion into adoption via threats, misinformation, and psychological tactics.
  • "Our days were spent talking about pregnancy. Nobody gave us classes... Calling the infant ‘the baby’ instead of ‘my baby’ was a deliberate tactic to prevent attachment." — Survivor quoted by Monte [2:07:10]
• Rape and incest victims treated as “promiscuous,” shunned, and ultimately silenced; their male perpetrators almost never held accountable.
  • "I would have pregnancy nightmares. I was so terrified that I would get assaulted and get pregnant and it would be my fault... I would rather tell my dad I killed someone. That is how serious this was." — Monte [2:00:15]

5. Modern Parallels: Liberty University’s Godparent Home

[2:08:30 - 2:32:45]

• Liberty’s Godparent Home, founded in 1982 and still operating, is highlighted as a present-day example of these coercive systems—a place where girls are pressured to place babies for adoption to “deserving Christian couples” as a sign of repentance, with housing and education assistance tied to relinquishment.
  • "Pregnancy was proof of female failure. Adoption was the path to redemption. Education and a future were contingent on surrendering their children. That is so gross, so foul, so disingenuous, so not, oh, stressful." — Monte [2:22:20]
• Survivors recall being isolated, shamed, prayer being used as pressure during labor, and vanishing from the community when babies were placed.
• Monte connects this with Liberty’s overall pattern of using honor codes, investigations, and settlements to suppress sexual assault allegations and punish women for violations rather than holding men accountable.
• Ominous resurgence: after the Dobbs decision, a 40% increase in maternity homes in the U.S., with 80% being faith-based; increased public funds are funneled into these institutions.

6. Adoption for Profit, Lack of Oversight, and Continued Trafficking

[2:40:40 - 2:54:00]

• Private adoptions can cost up to $65,000 and are incentivized by the need to “close” relinquishments like a sales deal.
• Nonprofit status for religious agencies does not mean lack of financial motivation; these organizations gain revenue, prestige, and power.
• Weak oversight, discriminatory practices (against non-Christian, non-heterosexual, non-white parents), and modern forms of “rehoming” enable ongoing abuses.
  • "If you can stamp 'God' on it, you can get away with a lot." — Monte [2:49:26]

7. The Ongoing Cycle and Survivor Resistance

[2:54:00 - End]

• International examples (Ireland, Canada, Australia) of governments apologizing for forced adoption; the U.S. has lagged behind, with only local or denominational acknowledgments.
• Survivor testimony reframes mothers not as “shameful” but as victims of coordinated coercion.
• Monte reads a powerful letter from a listener—a former “trad wife” who left a controlling pastor husband and the evangelical system, sharing her story of pain, growth, and survival.
  • Notable Quote: “I am happy.” — Listener Letter [2:57:40]
• Monte’s rallying cry: “Until we truly have equal accountability, abuse will continue. And without bodily autonomy, there is no freedom.” [3:03:10]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Morality is always the excuse and power is always the result." — Monte [22:50]
• "It's amazing what kind of cruelty you can justify. Suffering and hard work were presented as penance for sin and as a path to moral rehabilitation." — Monte [38:00]
• "When you can stamp God's name on it for your own benefit, whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, you can justify a lot of cruelty." — Monte [42:05]
• "I believe that when there’s a child support case, each parent gets a credit card that can only be used for child expenses... If men were suddenly legally required to pay 50% of all the bills for the kid starting at conception, abortion bans would disappear." — Monte [29:48]
• "Adherence to honor codes and silence about what happens inside these homes... The language of mercy masks structural cruelty. Leaders speak of saving babies and empowering women. Yet the system routinely withholds the very support—child care, housing vouchers, cash assistance, legal representation—that would allow a young mother to not only make a knowledgeable decision but also to keep her child." — Monte [2:36:05]

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Timestamps (MM:SS) | |--------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------| | Satirical News & Double Standards Introduction | 00:30 – 08:00 | | Magdalene Laundries History & Scandal | 18:30 – 53:00 | | Legal/Policy Roots of Reproductive Double Standard| 26:00 – 31:00 | | US "Rescue Homes" & Homes for Unwed Mothers | 1:12:30 – 1:50:00 | | Rape, Reporting, and Survivors' Realities | 1:48:00 – 2:08:30 | | Modern Parallels: Liberty Godparent Home | 2:08:30 – 2:32:45 | | Adoption for Profit & Trafficking, Current Policy| 2:40:40 – 2:54:00 | | Listener Story: Surviving and Thriving | 2:54:00 – 2:59:30 | | Final Reflection & Call to Action | 3:02:45 – End |

Episode Summary Flow

• Monte uses vivid satire and sarcasm to highlight how criticisms and regulations around sexuality and parenting almost always target women, not men.
• Delves into the brutal, exploitative history of the Magdalene Laundries, their institutional and state complicity, and the long fight for survivor justice and recognition in Ireland.
• Traces the transplantation and adaptation of these moralistic punitive institutions to the U.S., revealing how “homes for unwed mothers” operated as mechanisms for hiding girls, coercing adoptions, and upholding white, patriarchal, evangelical-defined respectability.
• Exposes racial disparities in how girls were treated, and how class and whiteness operated to police sexuality and create pipelines for infant adoption.
• Draws clear connections between mid-20th-century abuses and modern practices, especially in religiously-affiliated homes like Liberty University’s Godparent Home, amid a new surge in these environments post-Dobbs.
• Tackles the twisted economics and modern forms of trafficking, the enduring impact on survivors, and the need for oversight, justice, and, most of all, bodily autonomy.
• Closes with a deeply personal listener story of deconstruction, escape, and rebuilding—a testament to resilience, and a reminder that personal and systemic change are possible and necessary.

Conclusion

Monte Mader’s deep-dive into the history and current reality of “wayward girls” institutions is both an unflinching exposé of abuse and a call to action on behalf of those still caught in cycles of shame, erasure, and coercion. With historical rigor, biting humor, and heartfelt empathy, she connects past and present, urging listeners to examine where morality masks oppression and to fight for true, equal accountability and bodily autonomy.

To support Monte’s work and access ad-free, bonus content:
patreon.com/montemader