Josh Duggar arrested again for having indecent images of children. AIBU in wondering how the hell a man with his history was allowed to remain in the home with his babies?

[MobyDicksTinyCanoe]

For anyone who doesn't know who he is Google is up there ^

I don't even watch the programme but I've been following his case (( well cases)) and I'm astounded by the fact that a man's right to have access to his children seems to come above a child's right to be kept safe from harm. Is this the norm in the states whereby someone with a history like his can remain in the home? 🤔

He has the right friends and has been until now virtually untouchable. His wife, Anna, will be blamed for not meeting his 'needs' not him for his actions

His wife has been offered help - IRC her brother offered to help her and her DC to leave a few years ago.

Unfortunately she's very brainwashed. The whole situation is extremely sad for everyone concerned.

As PP have said I’m confused why it’s taken so long for him to be arrested? God knows what he could have been up to in the last couple of years.

I just pray that he hasn’t touched any more of his sisters or his kids.

As for Anna I hope Jimbob gives her fair maintenance for her to go live her life in peace.

Famous, white, religious man with friends in high places. The abuse he committed against his sisters was well known among producers before it came to light. Oprah Winfrey and her production team were tipped off to the situation back in 2006 it came out to the public in 2015. There was even a blog written about it in 2007.

Men, even ones who sexually abuse their female relatives, must always take precedent over the rights of women and girls. That's the evangelical way.

I started watching 19 Kids and Countjng on TLC in about 2015, just before all the stories about Josh surfaced. I found it completely intriguing, not to mention bonkers. Life Isn't All Pickles and Hairspray on Facebook is great at keeping tabs on them all.

Josh always came across very oddly and it's unsurprising. What really sticks in my mind is the episodes when he's planning to marry Anna, and Jim Bob is obviously uncomfortable with it and expresses (in so many words) that Josh needs to think beyond marriage just being a vehicle for having sex. I do feel sorry for Anna, she barely stood a chance and is so brainwashed and trapped by it all - she could leave him, but then she presumably would lose (or fears she would lose) her support network. The whole philosophy is around women being 'barefoot and pregnant' - barefoot so they stay at home. Her family are as bad as the Duggars despite her siblings who left.

My real sympathy is for the five girls Josh abused, as well as the poor children whose sexual abuse he has viewed. I was impressed by Jinger's statement on her Instagram as it is so clear and uncompromising. She and Jeremy seem to be the most well-adjusted now she is free of the Duggar compound. Poor Jill is clearly very damaged and it's ridiculous that she isn't allowed at the house but abuser Josh has continued to be welcomed.

The siblings who have clearly seen through the terrible parenting by Jimbob and Michelle, and their apologist behaviour for Josh, seem to be the better adapted ones.

I found this a fascinating (and horrifying) read from Emily Anderson

Contd...

I have followed this family closely for years, as I have always been intrigued by their large family. I must admit my view of them has changed over the years, as something has always felt ‘off’.
I’ve heard that Josh was given a stern talking to by a local senior policeman (sorry, I can’t recall his title), after he confessed to the crimes against his sisters. However, this man has also since been arrested for similar charges.

Those screen shots are terrifying.

It reminds me if one episode where they were doing some kind of national.work Indonesia or something and one of the girls became very close with another girl she met there. To the point she was fighting back tears when the time came to say good bye. It made me wonder about what would happen to them if one was gay and would they be made to live in misery married to a man. Seems so..

He is lowlife as are the majority of his cult.

But I can’t feel any sympathy for a woman who knowingly stays, and has more children with, a paedophile.

Yes she does have choices. They might not be easy choices, but there are choices. But what choices do her children have?being brought up in a cult like that the boys will be brought up in the image of their father and the girls will be brought up as subservient possessions of men. Any mother who stands by and lets that happen is just as bad as the abuser.

She has had options to leave and not only has she failed to take them but she has gone on to have two more children and conceive another one.

The Duggars have covered and therefore enabled Josh's behaviour. I feel horribly sorry for Anna, who is not a typical woman at all. Her own parents knew about the molestations before they let Anna marry him (because, you know, repentance is amazing) and then after the Ashley Maddison stuff they told her to stay with him. Anna is very much between a rock and a hard place - she's been brought up that the husband is the headship and you have to obey him and blame yourself when thigs go wrong.

Anna has been brought up to believe that the outside world is even worse: that whereas some of us nice safe Christians abuse our sisters and children, all or most of them non-believers do evil sex acts on everyone, all day long. She likely believes that by staying she is protecting her children

I feel most sorry for Anna out of everyone. When she did the interview post AM you could see she was dying inside but because of her beliefs she felt she had to be the one to save the marriage. She probably blamed herself (as did everyone else) for not being "joyfully available" [vomit]. I'd put money on that Jim Bob threatened her with loss of the children if she tried to leave, he is one sick man with control issues. The statement they issued more or less said "we will do what we can to get Josh cleared". There is no way Anna (or even her heathen siblings) can square up to Jim bob.

Anna Duggars Instagram is so gross. Photos of their "perfect" family, accompanied by saccharine captions, and thousands fawning over photos of a paedophile and his children. What a world we live in.

Anna and all the other women will be emotionally and developmentally stunted. The only thing they know of the outside world is what they are told. She doesn't have the freedoms that we have. You can't lay any blame at the door of a woman who has no rights.

But I can’t feel any sympathy for a woman who knowingly stays, and has more children with, a paedophile.

But it's not as black and white as that.

Anna Duggar has basically been raised in a cult. She's been brainwashed her entire life to believe that anything outside her religion is bad, dangerous and evil - worse than what she's experiencing at home.

It's easy to look in from the outside and scream about how awful she is, but she doesn't know any different. The Duggars are a very powerful family in their religion and she's probably terrified of them somehow taking her kids off her if she tries to leave.

The subreddit fundiesnarkuncensored is a really good place for anyone just now learning about the absolute insanity of fundamentalist Christianity.

I fully understand the challenges someone like Anna is facing, dealing with this within the context of the worldview she’s been raised to believe. But she keeps bearing a sex offender’s children. If he gets convicted, it’ll be a concern for CPS if she continues to allow a paedophile access to her children. She might have the ability to be a family living with josh removed from her or face losing her children. Which tbh is a relief. She’s a victim but she’s also perpetrating risks and potential abuse upon her own children. The absolute priority has to be their protection. I think the days of Anna and Josh living together as a family are gone. She must be terrified.

I'm on FundieSnarkUncensored. Also DuggarSnark on reddit is another good one.

I know someone who had thousands of images and served a sentence. Went straight back home to wife and children.

@YouWerePrettyIWasLonely

Anna and all the other women will be emotionally and developmentally stunted. The only thing they know of the outside world is what they are told. She doesn't have the freedoms that we have. You can't lay any blame at the door of a woman who has no rights.

Totally agree. Fucked as it is, Anna isn't to blame here.

I was pleased to see that Jiinger made a statement on Instagram.

@sunflowersandbuttercups

But I can’t feel any sympathy for a woman who knowingly stays, and has more children with, a paedophile.

But it's not as black and white as that.

Anna Duggar has basically been raised in a cult. She's been brainwashed her entire life to believe that anything outside her religion is bad, dangerous and evil - worse than what she's experiencing at home.

It's easy to look in from the outside and scream about how awful she is, but she doesn't know any different. The Duggars are a very powerful family in their religion and she's probably terrified of them somehow taking her kids off her if she tries to leave.

I suspect if she doesn’t leave him she will end up losing her children. CPS will step in and ensure Josh isn’t allowed to be around children for their own safety. She’s between a rock and a hard place as if she stays with him she will likely lose custody of her kids, and if she doesn’t she faces condemnation and ostracisation from her community and family.

If she did want to leave then now is probably her best chance tbh.

She’s a victim but she’s also perpetrating risks and potential abuse upon her own children.

I suspect she feels she has no choice. If he's abused his siblings and other children, it's pretty much guaranteed that he's abusing her as well.

She probably has no access to contraception or abortion either, so has no choice about having more children. Josh Duggar is clearly extremely abusive (with a powerful family) and when you're essentially raised in a cult, it's not as easy us just getting up and walking out.

I suspect if she doesn’t leave him she will end up losing her children. CPS will step in and ensure Josh isn’t allowed to be around children for their own safety.

CPS already know that Josh has convictions for possessing indecent images of children. They also know he abused his own siblings, and he's still allowed in the family home.

Like PP have said, that's fairly common. It takes a LOT for a parent to be permanently denied contact with their children through the courts.

He has the fucking nerve to be anti LGBT and preach about it