Usually, I don’t pay much attention to celebrity gossip. I’ll read the headlines of the tabloids at work, laugh and that’ll be the extent of it. Something caught my eye the other day though. That something would be Josh Duggar.

Duggar is one of 19 children on TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” It just hit the media last week that Duggar molested quite a few girls about 12 years ago, when Josh would have been 15.

In my opinion, the TV show should have never aired in the first place. The show first started in 2008, well after he abused these young girls.

Many people are trying to defend Josh by saying he made a mistake. He did not make a mistake; he committed a crime. Now, the Duggars are known to be quite the Christian family. They don’t believe in kissing before marriage, and their courtship rules are all-around strict.

When the abuse happened, Josh told his dad, Jim Bob. Jim Bob kept it hidden for about a year. He decided to send Josh away to work for a family friend for a few months. When Josh returned, he was taken to a sheriff to tell authorities what he had done. The sheriff gave him a stern talking and let him go. This same sheriff has since been arrested for child pornography.

There are many things that are very wrong about this situation.

Supposedly, some of the girls Josh molested were his own sisters. The Duggars don’t believe in gay rights, but Josh molested his sisters and his parents are defending him, which leads me to my next point.

What’s going on with the victims now? Are they OK? Have they gotten the proper support they need? Being molested is a traumatic experience and victims need to be taken care of.

Sex offenders also need to be properly taken care of. They should seek counseling or rehabilitation, because often there is something psychological going on that caused them to do it. Going away to work for a family friend is not rehabilitation and getting a stern talk from a sheriff is not the proper way to get the law involved in something so serious.

I’m very bothered by this whole situation. It seems extremely hypocritical. I applaud TLC for taking the show off the air since the reports have hit the media. I hope Josh gets the proper punishment, and I hope the victims get the proper support and care they need. I hope that anyone who has ever been sexually abused will speak out and get the help they need.

 

Erin Murtaugh is an undergraduate at Bemidji State University for elementary education. She can be reached at murtaugh.erin@gmail.com.