Anne Marie Allen, recruited at the age of 15 to a Catholic organization with a promise of a catering course, describes her life of seven years as a domestic slave. Her narrative reveals extreme practices of self-mortification, such as the daily use of a cilice, a painful metal chain, and self-flagellation sessions. These actions, portrayed as normal in her environment, deeply traumatized her. Allen shares her shame and the long-lasting impact of such practices on her psyche, aiming to shed light on the dark realities behind closed doors in this religious context.
"The looser it was, the more it scraped [the skin], so it was just easier to tie it really tight and then double- or treble-knot it."
"And then you whipped yourself on Saturday, to the Hail Holy Queen in Latin. You'd be passing by bedrooms, and you'd hear people doing it. And this was normal."
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