The Duggar Debacle

Hello faithful readers!

Okay, I know you are probably sick to death of hearing about Josh Duggar and his transgressions, but as a survivor of sexual abuse, I felt compelled to offer my two cents.

I've read up on as much as I could about what he did and what his parents actions were following the abuse. I've also read a ton of peoples comments on it. There seem to be two schools of thought. One group of people are thrilled that he's been exposed as a hypocritical bigot and that his family's show is being pulled from TLC. Many of these are people who've never liked the family to begin with and have always thought their show was stupid. Then you have fans of the show that are all about, "He made a mistake. God has forgiven him, don't punish his family because of what he did, etc."

I used to watch their show when it first came out. While I didn't agree with their religious beliefs, I still liked them and enjoyed watching the things they did. As time went on, however, I became really concerned about their views and the fact that people held them up as moral paragons. Long ago I stopped watching because of their bigoted views toward the LGBT community and I refuse to support those views by adding to their ratings.

I don't really have a problem with people saying he made a mistake. Because, well, he did. He was fourteen and growing up in a household which severely sexually represses their children. They don't even talk to them about sex until they're about to get married. Their access to media is severely restricted. These kids have no real idea about sex and the human body except what their parents read them out of the bible. And what the bible teaches is that sex is this terrible, immoral, horrible thing until you get married. The girls are taught that the wife must be submissive and 'available' to her husband whenever he needs to satisfy his urges. And I won't even start on the philosophy of 'lets try to populate the earth' they've got going on. Though as long as they can afford to care for their children I don't care if they have 50 as far as that is concerned.

But because of the way these kids are raised, things like this are bound to happen. I wasn't at all surprised by it. When you don't teach a young man about his body and hormones and things, then he is going to explore that on his own to the detriment of young girls within his reach.

Now, my molester was someone who was far, far older than me and should have known better. It was a family friend, and only one or two people on this planet know who it was and what he did to me. As a child I was too scared to come forward, and so my abuser has walked free. I've never received counseling for what happened to me, nor do I talk about it much. In fact, I do believe this is the first time I've publicly acknowledged it. It's a part of my life that I have, for the most part, put behind me. But reading stories like this definitely bring it to mind.

I think the thing that is bothering people the most about this whole thing, is 1. How his parents handled things, and 2. The fact that he and his family have painted LGBT people as a threat to children, when Josh Duggar was himself, at one time, a threat to children.

I've seen people commenting that the family got counseling for Josh and his victims. However, I don't believe that is actually true. There has been no mention of what kind of counseling the girls had. And Josh's experience wasn't counseling. They sent him to a family friend who made him do hard work and who was a 'mentor' of sorts. That is most certainly not counseling. He was also given a 'very stern talk' by a State Trooper friend of the Duggars, who is now currently serving time for child pornography. How very interesting that is. The abuse was also covered up for nearly a year before it was ever reported.

All the things the Duggars have been saying in the media are all about poor Josh, and how he regrets what he did, etc. There isn't anything about his victims. Yes, he was young, but so were they. Given the absolute garbage excuse for counseling Josh got, what did the girls get? Probably a few bible verses and a "you'll get over it, that's just how men are."

That is what is getting people so riled up. That it wasn't handled in a proper way and that Josh wasn't punished for it. Not punished in the eyes of the law. Yes he was 14, and he would have gotten a punishment fit for a 14 year old, but he would have been punished. As he should have been.

The other thing is that the family as a whole paints the LGBT community as being a danger to children. That laws allowing transgender people to use their correct bathroom would be putting young girls in danger. All while they covered up their sons deeds and gave him a paltry punishment for what he did.

If his wife wants to stand by him, then fine. Obviously he told her about it. Hopefully she keeps a close eye on their daughters. But I totally agree that their show should be taken off the air. People need to stop acting like these people speak for Jesus because they sure as hell don't. They may do some Christian things, but their beliefs are dangerous and detrimental to people, especially to their own children.

Josh Duggar is proof of that.

Thanks,

Dawn