The Brutal Takedown of the Duggar Family’s Evangelical Crusade
The Duggars, stars of TLC’s 19 Kids & Counting, were superficially presented as an eccentric real-life version of the characters from Cheaper by the Dozen. Yet beneath that façade, they were always religious zealots who adhered to an extreme brand of patriarchal Christianity that opposed abortion, disapproved of LGBTQ+ rights, and manipulated women through scripture that encouraged them to be incessantly pregnant. Prime Video’s four-part Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is a brutal takedown of the Arkansas clan, led by testimony from two of its own.
It’s also, however, an expose about the Duggars’ role as chief promoters of a sexist evangelical crusade designed to denigrate, dominate, and disempower its female members, as well as to spread its message all the way to the corridors of U.S. political power. As such, it’s additionally a damning indictment of TLC and its parent company, Warner Discovery, which helped spotlight a regressive and deeply misogynistic movement.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s faith was a central component of 19 Kids & Counting. Less obvious, though, were their bedrock ties to the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), an ultra-out-there association founded by Bill Gothard. Gothard, as seen in copious seminar speeches and promotional videos, preached a 1950s-via-1800s Christian doctrine in which men were irreproachable heads of households and women were their subservient partners. Be it demanding purity and modesty from girls, dishing out corporal punishment to children (spankings will keep them in line!), dissuading people from reporting mistreatment, or giving fathers—and other male figures—complete authority over daughters’ lives (especially with regards to dating and marriages, which were basically arranged), it was, and remains, a system of physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual control and abuse.