Jill Duggar is Monetizing Her Trauma
And she has every right to.
I have recently talked about Jill Duggar's book extensively.
Before that, I discussed Ginger Duggar's book with Emily Elizabeth Anderson of Thriving Forward.
Recently, two of the clips I made regarding revelations in Jill’s book have gone viral, and, as a result, many people have been commenting with positive and negative feedback. (You can watch here and here.)
Several comments caught my eye – all communicating largely the same thing:
”Why are these people being dragged up again? Is there nothing else to talk about? If this is just because one of them wrote a book to drum up sales is shameful.” – @janemoore3143
Like every family. Good times…bad times. Be an adult…live your life. Stop making $ from family drama! - @dorothypage7410
What’s most disturbing is now the adult daughters are profiting off of their tragedy, family name & the religious cult they were raised in. Their motives for coming forward with conformation of the double life style seems it’s for monetary value. If they had received payments and could live a luxurious life style, would they bother to come forward. Sadly most of their female children are reminiscent of one-trick ponies. At least some of the boys obtained pilot license. - @jillwyzywany4980
As you can see from the above examples, many expressed that Jill and Ginger should be ashamed because they are – for lack of a better phrase, “monetizing their trauma.”
But the reality is that Jill and Ginger’s trauma has been monetized for years.
Their trauma was monetized by Jim Bob Duggar, who built a multi-million dollar empire on their backs without paying them.
Their trauma was monetized by TLC, who produced 19 Kids and Counting and – eventually, Counting On.
Their trauma was monetized by IBLP, who used them as a “model family” to recruit others into their program.
Their trauma was monetized by the publishers who put out books like Growing Up Duggar.
“But the reality is that Jill and Ginger’s trauma has been monetized for years.”
The only change is that Jill and Ginger have taken control of their respective narratives.
If anyone should be allowed to monetize a story, it should be the person who lived it.
This is something that should be celebrated and supported, especially by those who have supported the monetization of their trauma in the past, whether it's through consuming their reality TV shows, their books, or their Megyn Kelly interview.
As Jill says in her book, she had to keep her reality separate from the narrative presented on reality TV. What people had seen in the past was essentially Jim Bob's twisted narrative. Now, these girls are brave enough to share the truth about their experiences for the first time ever.
We should support that, just as we should support any survivors in telling their own stories how they see fit.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. The Josh sexual abuse of course is a tragedy and I don't give Jim Bob and Michelle a pass on that. But otherwise? I am not sure there is much of a story there, just like there never was much of a story to the whole Duggar phenomenon. Yes, there are a lot of kids. So what? Yes, they had strange rules. So what? Many of us grew up with strange rules and everything turned out fine. I certainly did, and while I am lightyears away from that now, I still have fond memories of my childhood.
Overall, the kids seemed to be cared for, cared about, and had above average opportunities to grow into functioning adults. When I hear about these tell-alls, they just sound pretty boring. It is a non-story. Time to just forget about this family; they were never special in the first place.