The Duggar Family
I’ve always had negative feelings towards large families. I fully believe large families are breeding grounds for abuse, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. It’s so sad, however it does not surprise me that Josh Duggar abused his sisters. And, even more sad, it’s not surprising that the parents didn’t react appropriately. What bothers me most, is that the Duggar parents had 6 kids already. 5 children were potential victims of Josh. The parents decided to KEEP HAVING children. That’s 13 more potential victims for Josh Duggar. The parents didn’t make any arrangements for actual counseling, nor did they remove Josh Duggar from their home. He could still be molesting his younger siblings and the parents don’t even seem to care.
I read a yahoo news article that stated,
“if victims who have been abused by a family member feel that their family is siding with the perpetrator — and in turn feel not loved, not supported, and not as important to their family as their abuser is — they are at even greater risk for negative health behaviors.” (Source)
These feelings are all to familiar to me. I am a victim of sexual abuse. And, these are the feelins that have afflicted me the last four years. I even had my parents deliver a message of bribery from my older brother. “Don’t press charges and I’ll give you the 10k that I’d spend on a lawyer.” My parents tried to get me to accept ‘hush’ money, instead of my brother receiving SOME kind of punishment for his actions. How have I coped with these feelings? How do I even continue a relationship with my parents? I don’t know. Some days I hurt less then others. Some days my parents call and speak about him, and those days are truly awful.
When a victim and an abuser belong to the same family unit there will always be hurt feelings and tension. It’s as simple as that.