What Brought You to Free Jinger?

[FaceTheShadow]

When I was looking up on the Duggars and the controversies that they did and more recently, when I tried to read up more about the sexual abuse charges against Josh Duggar, I ended up coming across this forum and lurked for a while before registering.

[KaitR]

Definitely the Josh scandal for sure. I'd been a casual-to-obsessed viewer for years -- partly charmed by the sweetness and attractiveness of many Duggars, but also fascinated and angered by some philosophies. After the news came out I started seeking (and finding) more alarming information and that search led me here.

[theinvisiblegirl]

Well, I've always been fascinated/disgusted by the Duggars, ever since their first special. I Google'd them once, and that's how I discovered Free Jinger. I was much younger then and I didn't join. However, the site did stand out in my mind. I'd come back to it occasionally, maybe once a year, halfway through a season of However-Many-Kids-They-Had-At-The-Time and Counting. I started coming to FJ more and more to lurk as Jill and Jessa prepared to get married, and I joined after it was announced that Josiah was courting Marjorie. Now that the Josh scandal has hit, I'm glad to have a place to come and talk about it because my parents, especially my dad, are getting tired of hearing me talk about it.

I'm very grateful to FJ and their information about Fundie families other than the Duggars. I knew the Duggars/Kellers/Bateses weren't the only Fundie families out there that were a little crazy, so learning about other Fundies has really opened up my eyes to the Quiverfull movement. I'm also learning more and more about IBLP/Gothardism, and it's just... wow. I know many people on this site are ex-Gothardites, and I just can't believe it. To have the strength to leave that environment is just incredible.

Basically I love FJ.

[Elegant Mess]

I have no quick answer as to what brought me here, except that the Maxwell Family is the common thread that runs through it.

Several years ago, I discovered Azusa Street Survivors, a discussion forum on Yuku for ex-Pentecostals. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Pentecostal, but I have several relatives in my extended family who are. I found the forum as part of my research into understanding the mindset of this part of my family: they treat me as if I don't exist because I have a graduate degree, am unmarried, and have no children (I'm close to menopause now, anyway). Whenever we have family gatherings, they do not speak to me at all. Even things I say directly to them, even simple hellos, go unacknowledged whenever we're in the same room together.

Anyway, on their forum, they had a discussion that included a picture of the Maxwell women. At the time, Nathan was married to Melanie, but Christopher was not yet married to NR Anna - everyone except Melanie was in full matching frumper glory. I was so fascinated by them that I started doing internet searches on the family and found FJ in the search results.

Edited for riffles. :)

[RebelYell]

I found FJ because I needed a place where people GOT IT. It's been a process getting me here that goes something like this: Deep Fundie upbringing > breaking away > LOTS of former fundie FB groups and sites > beginning to watch the Duggars out of criticalness and morbid curiousity > googling Duggar shit I found extra crazy to see if others agreed and finding Mommyish recaps and also ultimately through more googling FJ! I'm very pleased I did! Thank you mods and admins for all your hard work!

DISCLAIMER * The Duggars may have contributed heavily to my finding FJ, but I'm staying for all the other nutjob fundies I hadn't heard of, as well as to keep an eye on the ones of which I did know! I've for sure fallen waaay down the rabbit hole now!

[GodsKnickers]

I was here before. It's been a couple of years though, I think. Life intervened in the way of a sick kid (chronic/autoimmune) and we moved blah blah blah, and I think I just wandered away but I actually don't remember. :lol: Y'all came back up again with the most recent Dastardly Duggar-Muck, and I followed a link back here. Took me doing a little searching because I couldn't even remember my name here. :lol: Then I emailed HappyAtheist to take me off of inactive status so I could participate again, when possible.

[Mom-mouth]

I found this site years ago but have been lurking on it forever because I never have any great replies. I was searching on the Duggars because some of the fundie things they say sounds so much like my upbringing. I was so very naive, to the point of of being stupid, when it came to the world. I was shocked that not everyone was a Christian, for example. I didn't know anything like "athiest" existed. But I had a strong feeling that my life needed more and I really didn't believe it in my heart. I eventually escaped the insanity and I am a very happy person for it.

Anywhoodles, I saw the Duggars and was instantly captivated by their religious part of the story and thought the fake smiles were just a front for something sinister hiding behind closed doors. After all, I lived it so it must have been like mine. I found this site when I was looking up something about the quiverfull movement. And I fell in love and lurked for years... and now I am starting to crawl out of the woodwork and start interacting.

[halcionne]

Welcome everybody!

[Rainbowconnection]

Two years ago, one of my good friends got involved in a baptist fundie-lite church. She started smiling in a creepy way and I couldn't recognize her. So I started oneline searching about those churches and cults and I learned about Bible Camps, predicators and... the Duggars.

I live in the french speaking Switzerland. They are not famous here. I kept getting news from them, hoping I would see some of them escaping the cult or, even better, the show being cancelled by Child protection services.

I think that what was is the most scarry to me is the fact that my friend's new smile is exactly the same than the Duggar girls'smile.

When I discovered Free Jinger, I thought it was awesome. I tried to create an account but there was a technical problem and I gave away. With the big sex scandal, i decided to try again and here I am.

[Jatan]

Discovered the Duggars via some random blog post or meme, was intrigued, read up on wikipedia, was even more intrigued. Remembered that I used to lurk on TWOP boards and figured that if they have their own show they surely have a board dedicated to them there. Googeled something like "twop duggars", found out that TWOP is no more but that there is a magical place called FreeJinger. Been lurking here for a few months now, but since my fundie dreams are getting more frequent, my friends are very confused when I cuss about "another one getting pregnant" and Joshgate happening - I decided to register myself as a member.

[2andstopping]

Started watching duggars for background TV noise that was appropriate for my preschooler but semi interesting for me and she fell in love with Josie. Then looked up ALERT after Joe went, found out about IBLP and that led to recovering grace and to free jinger after that. I've been lurking for three months and have been nervous to post since joining during this Josh scandal and the bickering I've seen on those threads. The plethora of info here makes me wish I could go back to my college days and write a research paper on fundie cults! I wrote one about evangelicals being unethical once, though I can't remember my argument now lol, 7 years and 2 kids will do that.

[Tenyari]

Ages, ages, ageeeeeeeeeeees ago, I became a regular lurker on fj (which I since abandoned because of personal life), because I loved the environment here and I found you guys to be pretty hilarious, extremely informative and probably the only place on the internet where you could read everything about fundie families that was true and objective (sometimes more subjective). As I come from Croatia, I have always been befuddled and overall confused by the differences between our countries, but since discovering TLC, my confusion only grew. And you guys made it more clear to me. I'm an avid fan of this forum, more than I am a fan of any of the families or the shows about them. I love you guys and I'm really happy I remembered this place when the horrible situation with the Duggars emerged and all I could read online was a bunch of religious crap about forgiveness or people being horrified by it (naturally), and I wanted to find somewhere where I could analyze everything (without speculations) with people who have similar opinions as me but know about it more. So hello! I'm really excited to meet you all.

[violynn]

I was introduced to 19 kids a few years ago by one of my older daughters, she said she liked it because it has a big family too, and I got sucked in. While the patriarchal overlord overtones bothered me, I am charmed by how well the kids seem to get along and truly work together. NOT charmed by the older kids raising the younger children, or JB's constant sex talk. If I wanted to watch that, I'd be tuned in to something else.

This news about Josh brought me to read extensively here on FJ, though I had lurked and skimmed other times, you are all famous, after all. I had no idea just how far down this rabbit hole went though, or that there are families just as bad and worse. Wow. I am glad to be getting this education, and just hope not to step in it too many times while learning.

[December]

Ages, ages, ageeeeeeeeeeees ago, I became a regular lurker on fj (which I since abandoned because of personal life), because I loved the environment here and I found you guys to be pretty hilarious, extremely informative and probably the only place on the internet where you could read everything about fundie families that was true and objective (sometimes more subjective). As I come from Croatia, I have always been befuddled and overall confused by the differences between our countries, but since discovering TLC, my confusion only grew. And you guys made it more clear to me. I'm an avid fan of this forum, more than I am a fan of any of the families or the shows about them. I love you guys and I'm really happy I remembered this place when the horrible situation with the Duggars emerged and all I could read online was a bunch of religious crap about forgiveness or people being horrified by it (naturally), and I wanted to find somewhere where I could analyze everything (without speculations) with people who have similar opinions as me but know about it more. So hello! I'm really excited to meet you all.

Whenever I've shown my friends from other countries clips from any TLC program, they can't get over how crazy the shows are. I wouldn't be surprised if an errant TLC clip has scared more than one person away from studying abroad in or moving to the USA! ;)

P.S. I hear Croatia is lovely!

[Tenyari]

Whenever I've shown my friends from other countries clips from any TLC program, they can't get over how crazy the shows are. I wouldn't be surprised if an errant TLC clip has scared more than one person away from studying abroad in or moving to the USA! ;)

P.S. I hear Croatia is lovely!

Oh, I love TLC. I got my mom and my aunt hooked on wedding shows that they show and botched up bodies! I'm an exception here though, if people watch reality TV, they're only watching local programming and TLC is not that popular among my friends for example. Those shows are pretty crazy, but we just had a show called: "10 most famous Croatian animals" about like, this famous parrot that stars in movies and music videos, and the mayor's (of the capital of Croatia) dog so...I'd say that's pretty crazy too (also pointless and not at all interesting but oh well). I'd move to the USA just so I could visit Kleinfeld and try on wedding dresses. :wink-penguin:

P.S. It is kind of lovely! But kind of horrible as well. A lot of devout Christians, homophobes, chauvinists and sexists here. Also a lot of nice nature. So there's that.

[rosethorne]

Several years ago I was sick. Being sick means, I’m lying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and sipping tea (or napping). I happened to have my husband turn on the TV before he left for work, because I like the baby/wedding dress shows as background noise that I really don’t have to pay attention.

Lo and behold, a marathon of 19kac starts. I went to change the channel, only to realize my husband had moved the remote to another room, and it was just TOO MUCH effort to go get it. My mother loved this show, and she watches regularly, so I had seen an episode here and there, but never watched with any real interest.

My mom would always get mad at me when I would tell her that statistically speaking at least one of those kids had one of the “problems†their parents reviled (i.e. homosexuality, really an atheist, believed in gender equality) and was probably only acting for the camera. So I went looking for some sort of proof to give her that they only showed this face on camera, and didn’t really act like that all the time.

Down the Google rabbit hole I jumped, and somehow found a picture of Jinger wearing track pants. Which inevitably led to googling Jinger, and I ended up here. I’ve been lurking on and off getting my funny boned tickled by the snark, and enjoying the circus from the sideline.

When the whole Josh thing came to light, I figured I should register, just in case I had something to add.

[eri]

I'm going to be an ass right now and point out the amusing coincidence of all these oooooold-time lurkers who are suddenly posting regularly because they only recently gained the confidence to start posting. All of them at the same time, even!

No need to fudge the truth, guys. It is not necessary to be a Yuku lurker in order to be respected here, and claiming so just makes you look silly.

[Furbabies]

Hi. /waves. Ahem. I started lurking at Free Jinger because I am fascinated by cults. I has read something on the internet that the Duggars were part of a cult, so I googled "Duggar cult" and Free Jinger showed up.

As I read I got an uneasy feeling that sexual abuse occured in this family because I saw "signs" that fit my experience as a survivor of incestual childhood sexual abuse. I joined just a few weeks before Joshpocolypse.

Another aspect that keeps me fascinated is, as a member of the BDSM (pre Fifty Shades) lifestyle, I see so much M/s dynamic in the Got-hard cult families. I wonder if Mr. Got-hard has ever read the Gor series of sci-fi books. Hmmmm...

Lastly, the more I read, the more I fear that we have The Republic of Gilead in our future. That scares me more than turtles, and I have a serious hate-on for turtles.

Oh, and religion wise I'm quasi pagan-lite with some atheism and Jedi thrown in. My deity of choice is Raptor Jesus.

[halcionne]

I'm going to be an ass right now and point out the amusing coincidence of all these oooooold-time lurkers who are suddenly posting regularly because they only recently gained the confidence to start posting. All of them at the same time, even!

No need to fudge the truth, guys. It is not necessary to be a Yuku lurker in order to be respected here, and claiming so just makes you look silly.

It's true. If you have a smart or witty comment, make it! And check back in a few minutes to reply to any replies your comment gets.

If you have a newbie question about Free Jinger, ask here: viewforum.php?f=32

If you're feeling shy about your question, you can pm me; I like to be helpful. I'm pretty good with the search tool if you need help finding something.

I found Free Jinger years ago after hanging out at hollywood gossip sites and stuck around when I realized how fucked up the Duggars really are, and that there are lots of other messed up families Free Jinger discusses, too. You're in the right place if you want to see some freaky families.

[FullmoonOverDuggardWaters]

Just posted in the "Introduce Yourself!" discussion, but I wanted to post here as well, as it seems more trafficked!

I am Jewish by birthright. However, this revelation of my heritage, my chosenness, was only brought to my attention as a young adult, upon a DNA-test in a thorough family-tree/research project. Before I learned of my birth-right (before I called myself a Jew, knew what it meant, or even attended Sabbath), I attended a youth-group at a local, large baptist church. Truth be told, I attended for the raging teenage social scene. It was fun being amongst boys during our activities! My immature, hormone-fueled mind made the decisions, meaning, in turn, I had to sit through very interesting (in retrospect) lectures on modesty, and our responsibility in not-defrauding the boys. The boys, I would later learn, had horrible guilt-ridden tortuous punishments and shame put upon them when it came to masturbation.

I never believed or took to any of the spoken words, it never felt right, intuitively. I never understood why my friends would raise their arms in praise during "worship"; our worship-band was a cute group of guitar-playing boys, in a sunday service just for teens. Oh, the stories! Fraudulence abound! I participated in the group, and giant teen retreats/summer camps, for 3/4 years.

Then, I was in a horrible accident at 17. None of my 10-or-so close-friends in this youth-group, or anyone from the group for that matter (that easily numbered 60), including the pastor, came to visit me as I lay on my deathbed (I had a 10% chance at living), or anytime thereafter. And I was there at the hospital for four months. So I never saw them again. (I am great, now. And having beaten the odds, I live a very active life. I am a licensed skydiver, and enjoy the closest thing to human-flight - wingsuit-flying, more than anything in the world.). Their congregation was a falsehood - they were the fraudulent ones.

In summary, what brought me here, aside from my long-time plague of curiosity with the Duggars and their "life-style", was my first-hand experience being gently groomed, or rather, lured, into fundie-land by way of being young and hormonal. The values of which they teach are dangerous. In the end, when I registered, it was to enjoy the discussions, contribute, and listen to others. Of course, the Duggars are a juicy food-for-thought, dispute, and discourse - I want to know more about other families and "life-styles" like theirs. I am especially curious about Messianics.

[Nootbar]

I was raised "adjacent to" many fundie lite families, and as the preacher's daughter many oddball beliefs bounced our way. Some stuck and some didn't. For example, others in the church believed the Gothard crap about Cabbage Patch dolls being of Satan, but my parents must not've bought it because I had about a dozen of them. On the other hand, we couldn't watch the Smurfs because Gargamel did black magic. I found FJ some years ago when trying to make sense of the way I was raised and the things that happened along the way.

[FullmoonOverDuggardWaters]

On the other hand, we couldn't watch the Smurfs because Gargamel did black magic.

Definitely gotta watch out for that Gargamel!!! :stir-pot:

Actually, did you know that Gargamel, first introduced in 'The Smurfs' cartoon, was somewhat controversial due to his semblances of a jew-stereotype; he loves gold (intends to use the smurfs for producing gold), has a large nose and magic-powers, and keeps a Mezuzah in his hut. Oh! And his cats name was Azrael.

[roxy7]

I have been lurking so long I don't even remember what originally brought me here. The crazy thing is I had no idea that the duggars were any more than a very large quirky family. I'm from Louisiana where it's predominantly catholic so we see large families. But nothing like these people. So I got curious about them and google led me here. Still not entirely sure it's a good thing since once you start to scratch the surface with these people you just have to keep going.

[Wingnut]

Steve Anderson, or his antics, brought me FJ. I live in the same state as he does and he is in the local news quite a bit. I found FJ when I did a google search on him.

[Eighth-of-eleven]

About two years ago my oldest sister-mom called me and said that I needed to watch this absolutely awful reality tv show called 19KAC, about this fundie family last name, "Duggar". I said "No, are you kidding, 19 children, fundamentalists?? There is sibling sexual abuse going on at the least, and more that that if my radar is not mistaken..." (We grew up in a strictly religious, closed system, abusive mega-family where there was sibling parental style sexual abuse as well as parental sexual abuse. The perpetrators were non-exclusive, both abused younger siblings and children, of both sexes, that is why I do not think that the "safegaurds" of locking the girls rooms are of any use at all...)I was so severely sexually abused, raped, molested by a brother who is eleven years older than me, that I had to have reconstructive surgery as an adult, lower pelvic organ prolapse,crushed bladder etc, never was able to have children.

When the Joshgate crime scandal broke, I gave in and watched several clips, read through so many posts here, articles and on line opinions, and of course the police report. I was way too triggered to actually watch the Megyn Kelly interviews, but I followed along here (thank you SOOO much FJ). I worked in a maximum security psychiatric facility with sexually violent predators for several years in my profession, I am now retired. Many of the offenders I worked with started out in their teens...with multiple victims...5-10 years younger than them...the sexually violent predators in my own family included... with no treatment and protected by, in my own case an enabling mother, and in other cases ignorant and enabling families, churches, etc...

I may never write another post here, I am not much of a writer, notice that I totally miss spelled eighth!!!in my own name, lol! I just wanted to express my gratitude for the support and humor here and the information. I feel for the victims, it often takes a long time for justice...it took me 32 years going after my brother, who raped and molested 8 children that I knew of, from when he was 15 to 25, that I have evidence of (not that I think he ever stopped) to finally get him investigated by the state two years ago, and get his grand children protected. Those girls are in a hard place, at least I have two older sisters who believed and supported me, and a younger brother who came out with his story of abuse.