TLC Documentary on Sexual Abuse

[Mitz_]

It sounds like TLC and the Duggars used Erin and her cause to do a little Duggar scandal damage control. She is correct, the Duggars detracted from her message but she could turn that around and use it to her advantage in a very big way. Instead she is not only deleting all comments about the Duggars but blocking the people who make those comments from all of her social media accounts!

I am not on board with "Erin's Law" but man oh man is this chick missing an opportunity.

[Mary C Doates]

For those who managed to watch this train wreck: was there any explanation within the program of why the Duggars were involved at all? Obviously they were involved because Jill and Jessa were victims and J'chelle is their monitor, but let's imagine we didn't know that. If someone happened to watch this without knowing who the Duggars are, let alone their connection to the topic, would the show have given them any clue as to why these three grinning idiots were there?

No. No mention of why they were there.

[Exposedknees]

The TLC documentary special was not "special" at all. It shared some valid points from the other survivors that participated but no real surprises. The one glaring truth was: If JB and M thought this was some form of damage control or reparations to their brand, they were mistaken. The Duggarettes came off looking very foolish. Their lines were so forced and off the point as to appear that they had no clue that they, themselves were supposed to portray/represent victims. :doh:

[ShepherdontheRock]

Well, thanks for recapping it for me. thank god I only have to waste a few minutes of my life instead of an hour on that bs.

But I'd just like to say: Having rested on it a little, I feel as if Jill and Jessa have a right to process their abuse within themselves however they want to, and I remember that, having been through a sexual assault experience of my own a few years ago I wanted to minimize it for a while, BUT- the way they supposedly acted was unreal, and I think it is nauseating that they want to try and profit off of this. J'Chelle in particular.

I mean, as much and Jill and Jessa irritate me and need to STFU I do feel a bit sorry for how they are raised, and maybe they sincerely believe what they are spouting/think they're serving God. But they're grown-ass adults, with access to the real world, and when all the information they'd need to refute these harmful beliefs is literally right at their fingertips, they can maybe educate themselves and stop insta-ing stupid bible verses and selfies and chick-fil-a. And honestly, I truly hope that they'll see the light; contrary to their beliefs I do not harbor any ill will for them, and don't hate christians.

J'Chelle, however, was educated, and chose this for herself. And she is a selfish, horrible, hate filled person, who can kiss my big, secular, educated, liberal, drinking and fornicating ass.

[VTSleeper]

Slate has a good take on the TLC special:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/20 ... ntary.html

[Librul]

The more I read about Erin Merryn and read what she writes, the more I am creeped out by her gigantic ego and need to be the "face and voice" of childhood sexual abuse. In some places on her site, she switches back and forth from speaking in the first to the third person, I.e., "I did this..." to, "Erin Merryn became the courageous voice..." People who speak in the third person about themselves always give me pause.

Then there is the detailing of all of her "famous" appearances on media, the photos with celebrities, deleting anything on her FB that references the Duggars and not HER, the gift of autographed copies of her books to the 11 year old survivor, the naming of the law for herself; she is all about her. Yes,I know she is a survivor and endured what no child should endure, but man, red flags all over the damn place for me.

[lascuba]

I really think that the reason the Duggars were included in the special was to mollify them over the cancellation. I still there's something really hinky about how TLC waited so long, beyond just not wanting to losing their best selling freakshow. When they had to cancel because the press was only getting worse after that disastrous Megyn Kelly interview, they let them try to "redeem" themselves on the special. Jessa's affect last night was so unlike her that she was obviously in damage control mode.

[FloraKitty35]

Well, thanks for recapping it for me. thank god I only have to waste a few minutes of my life instead of an hour on that bs.

But I'd just like to say: Having rested on it a little, I feel as if Jill and Jessa have a right to process their abuse within themselves however they want to, and I remember that, having been through a sexual assault experience of my own a few years ago I wanted to minimize it for a while, BUT- the way they supposedly acted was unreal, and I think it is nauseating that they want to try and profit off of this. J'Chelle in particular.

I mean, as much and Jill and Jessa irritate me and need to STFU I do feel a bit sorry for how they are raised, and maybe they sincerely believe what they are spouting/think they're serving God. But they're grown-ass adults, with access to the real world, and when all the information they'd need to refute these harmful beliefs is literally right at their fingertips, they can maybe educate themselves and stop insta-ing stupid bible verses and selfies and chick-fil-a. And honestly, I truly hope that they'll see the light; contrary to their beliefs I do not harbor any ill will for them, and don't hate christians.

J'Chelle, however, was educated, and chose this for herself. And she is a selfish, horrible, hate filled person, who can kiss my big, secular, educated, liberal, drinking and fornicating ass.

:clap:

[Rubyroo]

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*snip*

I mean, as much and Jill and Jessa irritate me and need to STFU I do feel a bit sorry for how they are raised, and maybe they sincerely believe what they are spouting/think they're serving God. But they're grown-ass adults, with access to the real world, and when all the information they'd need to refute these harmful beliefs is literally right at their fingertips, they can maybe educate themselves and stop insta-ing stupid bible verses and selfies and chick-fil-a. And honestly, I truly hope that they'll see the light; contrary to their beliefs I do not harbor any ill will for them, and don't hate christians.

I know it's easy to say all this but it's harder for them. Their Internet, even on their phones, is controlled by their parents so they can't just start looking things up. I know they could go to a library, but have they ever gone to a library? Do they know libraries have computers free to use? Would they know what to look up on the Internet to find useful stuff? I really get that it's frustrating these children aren't breaking free, but it's not as easy for them as it sounds. They've been sheltered, controlled and lied to their entire lives, after all. I just wonder how much practical (non domestic) knowledge they actually have and if any of them could just start navigating the world outside the TTH. And all the kids are victims of this cult. JB&M can go to hell, but no one else in the duggar family chose this for themselves and its not exactly easy to get away from.

[Idolatry]

I wish Erin had the balls to throw the Duggars under the bus. Obviously, being associated with them has made her look as well thought out as whatever that show was.

[heagleca]

Glad I missed it. I can just see their stupid cheesy grins and imagine Jill stumbling over her words and saying "like" every other word.

[ShepherdontheRock]

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I know it's easy to say all this but it's harder for them. Their Internet, even on their phones, is controlled by their parents so they can't just start looking things up. I know they could go to a library, but have they ever gone to a library? Do they know libraries have computers free to use? Would they know what to look up on the Internet to find useful stuff? I really get that it's frustrating these children aren't breaking free, but it's not as easy for them as it sounds. They've been sheltered, controlled and lied to their entire lives, after all. I just wonder how much practical (non domestic) knowledge they actually have and if any of them could just start navigating the world outside the TTH. And all the kids are victims of this cult. JB&M can go to hell, but no one else in the duggar family chose this for themselves and its not exactly easy to get away from.

I totally understand that they've lived a tough childhood, but, like I said, they're not children anymore. They're having kids now, and married, and they're 22/23-24? Many women that age have big girl jobs, bachelors degrees, even masters degrees. At least they probably know how to use google- I don't believe they are that ignorant. And I feel bad for them, but they are still responsible for their actions.

And Jessa and Jill aren't REALLY under their parents thumb- Jill's in central america, I'm pretty sure Jessa doesn't live at home, they could probably go onto freaking pornhub if they wanted to.

My thing is, I lose sympathy for people who whine about being victims of abuse who then continue to basically spout support for abuse.

[Jersey girl]

Ex elementary school teacher here. Also a survivor of childhood abuse by a neighbor. I'm not opposed to Erin's law, but i don't know how much it would have helped me - I knew full well it was wrong, I still didn't feel comfortable telling anyone. If my teacher had started talking about it in class, I'm pretty sure I would have just gone to the nurse and begged to go home sick.

I also had two (known) survivors when I was teaching. Their counsellors told me treat them as I had before...which would have been next to impossible while talking to my first graders about abuse in great detail. We definitely had training on warning signs of all kinds of abuse, what to do with suspicions and where to call with concerns. But that was in an evil urban public school.

This law won't help all those families like the Duggars and their fundie ilk, even those who go to Christian schools won't be affected, right?

[candygirl200413]

Ex elementary school teacher here. Also a survivor of childhood abuse by a neighbor. I'm not opposed to Erin's law, but i don't know how much it would have helped me - I knew full well it was wrong, I still didn't feel comfortable telling anyone. If my teacher had started talking about it in class, I'm pretty sure I would have just gone to the nurse and begged to go home sick.

I also had two (known) survivors when I was teaching. Their counsellors told me treat them as I had before...which would have been next to impossible while talking to my first graders about abuse in great detail. We definitely had training on warning signs of all kinds of abuse, what to do with suspicions and where to call with concerns. But that was in an evil urban public school.

This law won't help all those families like the Duggars and their fundie ilk, even those who go to Christian schools won't be affected, right?

I agree! I have the mixed feelings about Erin's Law because if it's a teacher.... I dont know it makes me feel some sort of iffy way because my abuse actually came from my teacher in elementary school. They has psychologist come to us during class and made us watch a video about it and I just had to run out because I couldn't stand to see that while my abuser was in the room.

Could christian schools get like exempt for this? What would be the logic? I might not be thinking right now of any reasoning but could it happen?

[Amanda7980]

I teach second grade. I'm a general education teacher and there is no way in hell I want to address anything like this with my kids. If they want to train already overworked guidance counselors to do it that's one thing- but that is a subject that I am not addressing in my classroom.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I support the idea of making education about sexual abuse mandatory. So many kids don't understand what is happening, or they are terrified by threats, or they think that nobody else would understand. I'm sure it would have helped one victim close to me disclose earlier. Of course, you need to do it properly. Train teachers or bring in experts.

Hell no to the idea of opting out. You want to reach as many children as possible precisely because most abusers are known to the victims.

The presence of the Duggars came a ross as odd. I watched part of the show with my husband. It is a very personal issue for him but he never watched the Duggars. He was very emotional but couldn't figure out what they were doing there. The girls were robotic and Michelle was beyond annoying.

I wished that the show had been even more concrete. For the most part, being paranoid about babysitters won't do a thing. A huge issue is that people have a blind spot when it comes to friends and especially family. Obvious red flags like past abuse get ignored and covered up. As well, many victims are not supported by their families. This was glossed over.

[Sherryburger]

I teach second grade. I'm a general education teacher and there is no way in hell I want to address anything like this with my kids. If they want to train already overworked guidance counselors to do it that's one thing- but that is a subject that I am not addressing in my classroom.

Oh, I agree. Both my daughters are teachers; one teaches Algebra II to a class of 35 kids here in Oklahoma. It is all she can do to keep enough discipline in the room so that the kids who want to learn, can. Teachers are already required to report known abuse to the proper authorities, but it should be left up to guidance counselors and the like to address this subject directly to the students.

My other daughter's husband was transferred to Taiwan and she took a job teaching there. She has absolutely no discipline problems--just respectful kids eager to learn. Of course it helps that these kids' parents are involved in their education.

[Lazuli]

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get the screen shot on here but this is from Erin's Law's facebook page.

Katie Moran

Today at 11:18

Erin, why do you keep deleting posts here?

13Like · Comment

Most Recent

Jessica Teasdale likes this.

Erin's Law Any mention of Duggars gets removed from this page....positive or negative.

Like · Reply · 3 hours ago

Katie Moran Well, I am sorry that your message about preventing abuse was ruined by having the Duggars there to detract from it.

Like · Reply · 5 · 3 hours ago

Erin's Law me too! I was asked my opinion about having them on and I said to not include them it would take away from this documentary and the focus of child sexual abuse prevention. So anytime anyone wants to bring the conversation back to the Duggars whether it is positive or negative I remove it. The focus is child sexual abuse awareness prevention not the Duggars.

I wish I'd taken a screen shot of an earlier proactive post she made on FB, where she threatened anyone who said anything negative about the Duggars involvement in the documentary, or criticized her for being on it with them. She later deleted it. She didn't threaten to delete people saying positive things about the Duggars. hehe I think she's spinning it now because so many people have made a stink about her scrubbing her page and banning people.

[Lazuli]

I try to cut Jill and Jessa a lot of slack, because they are victims who are still struggling with denial, locked in the cult that nurtured and enabled their abuse in the first place. I think it was unconscionable of TLC, RAINN, D2L and Erin's law to use their infamy to gain attention for their causes. I'm not convinced Jessa or Jill really had a choice about being on that documentary. And to put them on camera and film them learning about CSA is cruel. These groups should have known better than to exploit two CSA victims like this. Add to this, that TLC and these advocacy groups also exploited an 11 year old girl, and it makes me furious. I'm sorry...it's just wrong to force a child to relive this in front of an audience. I don't care how well adjusted she looks. She's a kid, who's been horribly traumatized, forced to speak in adult terms that she doesn't really understand. Not cool at all.

I am angry at Michelle, I'll give you that. But I also see her as a victim of sorts. She seems to be straddling the divide between victim and perpetrator, imo.

I'm guessing that TLC was forced to heavily edit the Duggars spot after the Ashley Madison bit..probably because they defended Josh. This could be why their talk seemed so disjointed. They should have been edited right out of it. Terrible slap to all survivors to have to see them acting like concerned mothers, as if the issue of child sexual abuse was a mere curiosity, and not something that had touched them personally. No one has forgotten what they said on Megyn Kelly either. They didn't renounce any of it.

And it blows my mind that they didn't mention Josh once. Not once. Nor his other three victims. Since the documentary was supposed inspired by him and his victims, it is very unsettling that he was scrubbed from it.

Even more unsettling is that RAINN and Darkness to Light said publicly that the Duggar inclusion was to be used as a teaching moment on what not to do. That never materialized. What a wasted opportunity. We all know if the Duggar parents had handled this differently and gotten him the appropriate help he needed as a teen, perhaps he wouldn't have cheated on Anna...another victim. And perhaps he wouldn't have roughed up the porn star...another victim. Such a shame that Michelle couldn't have admitted that they didn't handle it appropriately. She could have helped other evangelical parents facing a similar situation.

[ShepherdontheRock]

So, I couldn't help myself, and I found some clips of non-duggar bits on Youtube...

Erin Merryn strikes me as over-acting, over-dramatic, etc, and I find the whole bit plugging her book that was published "when she was just a senior in high school" really bizarre. Something very non-genuine about her, especially after the scrubbing of Duggar comments. I know a lot of other high-profile survivors are coming out of the woodwork right now, and were not so easy on the Duggars. Honestly, she could have really used this as an opportunity to say what people were thinking and talk about how they've failed on FB and instead she scrubs all mentions of them. Bizarre.

And, something just doesn't sit right with her using this as her thing to become famous. Mostly they name these laws after murdered children, don't they?

[HarleyQuinn]

So, I couldn't help myself, and I found some clips of non-duggar bits on Youtube...

Erin Merryn strikes me as over-acting, over-dramatic, etc, and I find the whole bit plugging her book that was published "when she was just a senior in high school" really bizarre. Something very non-genuine about her, especially after the scrubbing of Duggar comments. I know a lot of other high-profile survivors are coming out of the woodwork right now, and were not so easy on the Duggars. Honestly, she could have really used this as an opportunity to say what people were thinking and talk about how they've failed on FB and instead she scrubs all mentions of them. Bizarre.

And, something just doesn't sit right with her using this as her thing to become famous. Mostly they name these laws after murdered children, don't they?

I wonder if she's just bitter about the Duggars essentially duping her into talking about sexual abuse in their home and conveniently leaving out the children that were victims from that discussion?

She does seem very angry, and I don't blame her for feeling that way. I do too. I was a bit bothered by the "forgiving the abuser" thing. It's okay that she chose to do that, I just think it looks bad in a program featuring the Duggars where they swept everything under the rug.

[Jana814]

Yeah, I don't know if teachers are equIpped to handle teaching CSA but I'm all for the school nurse or therapist or social worker being trained in teaching CSA and just going around to all the classes once a year. That makes sense to me. But each teacher teaches differently and sometimes they get off track and don't get to cover all the material. Leaving it up to the teachers seems like a poor choice, they have enough to cover without another lesson (probably outside if their subject area) to throw in.

Agree!!

[Jana814]

I have to agree w/ the above post that they had to edit out some of the Duggar interview.

[Arete]

Even though I find both Jessa and Jill off putting for different reasons, I don't have anything to say about their reactions to their CSA traumas because I personally don't know how I would have handled it. I just got lucky and it didn't happen to me.

Now Michelle is a different story. I am perfectly comfortable acting as judge, jury, and executiner for that BITCH. She chose that lifestyle, she chose to become the enabler of the molester of her children, she even fucking chooses to police her married daughters to stay on point. The fact that she and her shit eating grin were allowed in the same program with people who were exposing their physical and psychological torment is obsence. Just obsence. Their is no amount of contempt she and Jim Bob don't deserve, and TLC with them.

As always, many thanks to Buzzard for her brain cell sacrifices watching and transcribing this stuff. Let me know when we start the collection to restock her boozee cabinet. I'm in.

[Walking Cat Bed]

If either Jill or Jessa had shown any discomfort or even distress rather than inane smiles(or so I gather from Buzzard's awesome recap, and others' summaries) perhaps they could have recouped some measure of credibility with this "documentary'.As it is, I think this is the final nail in the coffin :mrgreen:

Hell, if either of them had even teared up when talking, they'd improve their image. But, even if they did...Michelle probably wouldn't want that included. Can't have them expressing emotions other than J-O-Y.