The thing that has really been bothering me over the last few days, as more details have come out from JB and Michelle and now the sisters (although I did not watch tonight, and I was wrong earlier about the hockey game - it’s not until tomorrow night) is this issue of it not being a big deal because it happened when they were asleep and they didn’t even know about it until their parents told them about it.
I don’t know, but if that had been me, and I’d been made aware that someone was coming in my bedroom while I was asleep and violating my body, I don’t know how many months or years it would take before I could ever sleep soundly again. Last summer after we were burglarized while H and I were upstairs and in bed (and I was awake, so I heard the guy come in the back door), it took me months before I felt relatively safe to sleep in my house again, even after we actually started using our home security system, and upgraded it with additional features. Almost a year later, when H travels, I cannot sleep upstairs alone - I have to sleep on the couch downstairs because I’m afraid if someone breaks in (although it’s not logical, knowing our alarm system), I won’t hear them if I’m asleep upstairs. I can’t even imagine, as a kid, being told someone violated me while I was asleep, and ever really feeling safe again, even with locks on the bedroom door.
I wish more than anything that the daughters are protected. At the same time I wish they had the opportunity to explore the world outside of their home. I read somewhere online that their 2014 net worth is $3.5 million.
@MichiganGeorgia - I actually had that same thought a couple of days ago. You know, young boys aren’t the only ones who have engaged in this kind of behavior!
To clarify though, the Duggars think that LGBT people are the molesters we should be worried about, but because obviously none of the Duggar children are going to be LGBT, they don’t worry about same-sex diaper changers.
(I worded that about three different ways, and still don’t feel like I’m getting my point across well, but what I’m trying to say is there’s a false sense of security in only allowing same-sex diaper changers in the house).
I’ve just gotten into a discussion about tonight’s show on a friend’s Facebook who asked very respectfully what they thought about the girls after tonight’s interview.
And the one thing that kept coming back to me, in reflecting on all the shows I’ve seen them on over many years, is how ill-equiped these kids (especially the girls) are in finding their own voice. I’ve never felt any of them expressed an original thought or have the tools they need to communicate anything other than what their parents have drilled in their heads. So why would tonight be any different? The two girls have moved from one patriarchal household to another - they just don’t have the tools or encouragement to find their own voice.
You could almost make a drinking game out of less than a dozen words that come up multiple times every single episode no matter who’s talking - take a drink when someone says the word (like special, bonding, purposing). How special can something be if you use the word to describe every experience in your life? That’s not special… that’s ordinary if it happens all the time! Where is the depth of experience and emotion?
Even though I don’t watch the show, it strikes me that these kids have been in front of the camera for a number of years, and are accustomed to it, unlike most of us would be. I agree that Jessa seemed to be more dominant. I also thought it a bit strange that she didn’t comfort her sister when she was crying. Don’t people, especially women, tend to do that? Even with those more distant than our own relations?
Well, there was a time, a few months back, when there were rumors that Jessa and Jill might be in a tiff. One of them stopped following the other one’s Twitter or Instagram, or something. For a couple of weeks it was making the entertainment news. (I’m sure if you googled it now, you could find links). Whether it was done on purpose, or by accident (accidentally unfollowing someone?), it was reality.
I never tend to give those entertainment-type outlets much weight unless it’s something that can also be verified on a more traditional news organization, but it was obvious, that for whatever reason, one of them stopped following the other. The rumors were abound about jealousy about who was going to get married first, etc. That was the first I’d heard in all the years of watching that there might be serious friction between some siblings. That was again, several months ago, long before this recent news came out.
@raclut …“I wish more than anything that the daughters are protected. At the same time I wish they had the opportunity to explore the world outside of their home. I read somewhere online that their 2014 net worth is $3.5 million.”
I’ve read that the family is paid $40k per episode. Arkansas is one of the states that does not require the parents of child performers to set up trust accounts. I’m going to bet that all the money the children have earned has been thrown into the parents’ pot. I bet the girls at home are penniless. If the married girls had been paid wouldn’t they have purchased their own homes rather than live in one of their father’s properties? He can’t even buy them an $80k house?
I feel badly for the daughters as they are being trotted out to save the family show. One of the daughters characterized the touching incidents as “not that bad.” How can she possibly speak for the three victims who were not interviewed? How can she Josh did the exact same thing to each girl? After a whole year of touching his exploration probably got more bold. How dare they have two speak for the five.
Forums and media reports have been respectful and asked commentators not to speculate the names of the daughters who were victimized. The family thrust these girls into the limelight to interview. They are on Facebook calling themselves “public figures” so news of their victimization is of public interest. The parents chose to make them public figures knowing they had these skeletons in their closet.
Dr. Ablow is hardly any better; he’s a vile bigot who’s said truly contemptible things about trans women which are against the overwhelming weight of medical opinion – which he ignores… His opinions on trans people are quite similar to the Duggars’s, which is exactly why people on FOX are always soliciting his “expert” opinion. So, a plague on all their houses.
So – was it over the clothes or under the clothes?
I agree it was odd that Jenna didn’t comfort Jill when Jill was crying. But then again, I’m sure the crying was planned, so why would Jenna try and stop it?
The girls are certainly beautiful. (That has nothing to do with anything, I realize.)
It was very odd that they brought up Bauer, which owns In Touch. Bauer owns gobs and gobs of publications, including Women’s World, at supermarket checkout counters in the U.S.
And it’s really Josh who should be interviewed. Anything else is just diversion. But he won’t be. He’ll lay low for a couple of years and then he’ll reappear in some other conservative guise – maybe running some organization to help girls abused by family members. Ha ha ha.
The conversation between Kelly and Kurtz after the interviews concluded was crazy. Blame, blame, blame the liberal media. I had to turn it off at that point – Kelly, who certainly is quite intelligent, was so angry at the liberal media. It’s all their fault, you know.
Sorry – this is just rambling. But it’s turned into looney tunes.
I don’t know anything about this Dr. so thanks for pointing this out.
I’ve never watched the Duggars and haven’t seen any of the interviews or read much outside this thread but these people need to be thrown into the dustbin never to be heard from again.
“The conversation between Kelly and Kurtz after the interviews concluded was crazy. Blame, blame, blame the liberal media.”
Yeah, the liberal media made Josh molest his sisters. rolling eyes That there are people in this world who will buy that is frightening.
No disrespect to @tom1944, @emilybee or @VeryHappy, but isn’t it “the liberal elite media”? You’re forgetting that education = elitism in their world view.
The “elite” part of this scenario points to the culture war at play. I have never watched the Duggar show but my guess is that their spin would be that this molestation scandal being dredged up (after they prayed about it and are all good with it) shows that they are under spiritual attack by Satan and his minions. For me it brings back all the yucky emotions I felt when Sarah Palin ran for president (yes, I know McCain was the nominee). Really makes me want to beat my head against a wall.
On the girls’ beauty, yes, they are more attractive that their parents’ appearances would suggest is possible. DD and I decided that anyone who has 19 kids will probably end up with one who is prettier than genetics would suggest and at least one bad egg/molester.
If we wait 20+ years I would not be surprised if one or more of the kids defect from the family cult and write a tell-all.