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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSalon: I could’ve been a Duggar wife: I grew up in the same church, and the abuse scandal doesn’t shock me
Unlike most of the writers covering the Duggar sex scandal, I was raised in Advanced Training Institute (ATI), the fundamentalist Christian organization with which the family is affiliated. Joshua Duggars confession of sexually molesting young girls in his familys home when he was a teenager didnt surprise me, nor should it surprise anyone with any intimate knowledge about this organization, because ATIs theological beliefs and practices cultivate an environment where women and children are more vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse. Ironically, the same theological beliefs and practices at the heart of this scandal are the same beliefs that created the Duggars as a media phenomenon, and drew viewers and fans to their TLC show 19 Kids and Counting.
Non-mainstream religious sects have certainly been enjoying a cultural moment on television: The Following, Sister Wives, Breaking Amish. Netflixs dark comedy The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt explores the media hype around religious cult survivors in satirical detail. For me, though, that show should have come with a trigger warning, because in many ways, I am a real Kimmy Schmidt a woman who spent her adolescence trapped inside a metaphorical bunker, and then was thrust into a world that she had never been prepared to be a part of.
The Duggars didnt emerge from a subterranean bunker, though. Theyve been on TV promoting the fundamentalist Christian theology of ATI since their first special in 2004 (14 Children and Pregnant Again!). ATI is a Christian homeschool organization that hosts seminars worldwide, provides homeschooling curriculum, and even runs its own paramilitary training center. At one point, it was strongly affiliated with a Christian correspondence course law school. Its members are not concentrated in one area, and yet they maintain insular groups and often form churches in which all members are affiliated with ATI and/or follow its basic principles. Referred to as Gothardism within fundamentalist Christian circles, the teachings of ATI form an ideological system of practices based on the extremely strict, fundamentalist, and idiosyncratic Biblical interpretations of the organizations founder, Bill Gothard a man who, in 2014, stepped down as head of ATI following allegations of sexual misconduct with young girls.
The allegations against Mr. Gothard (as he is respectfully and worshipfully referred to by his acolytes) were an open secret among group members for many years. As a friend who worked at ATI headquarters once said to me with a wink: The prettiest girls are always chosen to work the closest with Mr Gothard.
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/i_couldve_been_a_duggar_wife_i_grew_up_in_the_same_church_and_the_abuse_scandal_doesnt_shock_me/
shenmue
(38,506 posts)Cha
(297,026 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I have said it before. I seriously believe it should be illegal. It teaches girls they are responsible for men's lust and if a man touches them without their consent or rapes them it is their fault. If this happened in a public school heads would roll.
KitSileya
(4,035 posts)But don't be so quick in believing public schools are much better. Too many middle schhol and high school students are told their shorts and skirts are too short, not to wear tops with spaghetti-straps, or that if your bra size is above a D-cup, they can't show cleavage at the prom. In other words, too many public school tell girls they are at fault if the boys in their classes have no self control.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)It is embedded in our culture. But, it isn't the purpose of education in public schools. The entire ATI curriculum seems to be aimed at teaching gender roles. I thought it was bad enough when I was in high school that shop class and home economics were gender segregated it wasn't a written rule, but girls were discouraged from taking shop and boys were made fun of if they took home economics.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)I read the entire thing AND the comments, question and answer of the readers and author. This is a cult I didn't know by name...now I know who they are and I won't forget.
She's very brave and writes well.
blue neen
(12,319 posts)It was interesting to hear things from a survivor's perspective.
maryellen99
(3,788 posts)spinbaby
(15,088 posts)The line in this article that shook me to the core was, "My close friends mother even refused treatment for breast cancer because she saw the disease as God saving her from her abusive husband, and the burden of caring for her many children."