Hellobee Boards

Jim Bob said, we talked to other families and they were like, we had something similar happen too. ?????? Really? Is it really common for older siblings to molest younger sisters? Ew!

@Mamaof2: I think the girls interview is on Friday night

Direct quote from Jim Bob "this was not rape or anything like it". Just as suspected., these girls have been told for years that what happened to them wasn't anything significant worth being upset over.

@travellingbee: At the end of the interview she gave some statistics. I forget them all off the top of my head, but it was more common for males to be the attacker between ages 12-14 and something like 85% go on to never have a repeat offense.

@Mamaof2: Girls interview is Friday. Had I known that I could have skipped that painful hour!

@lawbee11: Absolutely! The girls do it too when they are in side-by-side interviews with their spouses. Regardless of the topic they often look to them, as if for approval to speak.

@travellingbee: did you hear the part where they basically said it was harmless because the girls were asleep and he just briefly touched them over their clothing and had a heavy heart so came to them right away and the girls didn't even know until they asked them about it and actually found out about it from the parents?!

I personally call bull on the whole interview. Rehearsed and planned what they were going to say. To me Michelle was actually more raw and honest, but Jim Bob...everything out of his mouth was just beyond frustrating. The timeline of what happened and how they handled it did not meet what I read in the police report. And then how they are trying to blame it all being released on someone else because the records were of a minor and illegally released and acting like their family is the victim of an even bigger wrong doing...which this may be true but it does not erase, excuse or downplay what actually did happen and now has become public knowledge.

@anbanan15: this is what's really frustrating to me about the whole situation, they're being re-victimized now that it's all out in the open. I agree what Josh did was horrible and I doubt they received any counseling, but, I just can't get on board with all the media coverage and speculation. My heart hurts for those girls.

@mrscobee: really? I didn't think the questions were tough at all but I admittedly didn't finish watching it.

@mrscobee: oh man, I thought the questions were terrible. I didn't want or expect her to get into the details on the abuse, but she didn't ask any real follow up questions. Michelle kept talking about safeguards they put in place after his initial confessions but Megyn never asked what they were, or after they obviously failed, why they didn't take a different course of action. At some point Jim Bob said Josh wasn't a pedophile because pedophiles are 16 and he was only 14 and she had zero reaction. She let all of their statements go unchallenged. I found it extremely frustrating.

@mrscobee: we posted at the same time. Yes, I should have managed by own expectations better - I loathe Fox News but somehow had hope that because this is such an important topic (sexual abuse, not the Duggars), that it would be more than a fluff piece.

@Madison43: they actually did mention some of the safe guards. But it was things like not letting boys babysit, a boy and girl play by themselves or play hide-and-seek, or let girls sit on the lap if an older brothers. Things that basically tell every other son they can't possibly trusted to have any type of actual relationship with their sisters.

@Miss Ariel: Those "safeguards" made me think they just didn't understand - or chose not to see - what was going on here. I think a lot of kids "play doctor" with their siblings, which is what it seemed like they were trying to prevent by saying boys & girls can't play by themselves or play hide & seek. But it's kind of hard to participate in something when you are ASLEEP. This was not a case of kids being unsupervised and getting into trouble, but of their son calculating to take advantage of his sisters.

It was so odd and discouraging to me that they never once said that they felt worried for their daughters' safety or wellbeing. It almost seemed like they didn't even see any of this for what it was. They saw it as sin, but they didn't see it as abuse or even really negative for the girls at all.

@Maysprout: That was very odd to me, too! Super brazen.

@anbanan15: I really used to like the Duggars, but they fell even further in my eyes watching the interview. Of course they are going to do media training and have talking points, but they were plainly dishonest, either by lying or carefully wording things or not correcting Megyn when she said things that were not true at all, which last time I checked runs completely counter to their belief system. But I guess Michelle's outfit was modest so that's what really matters.

@anbanan15: I am. I find it infuriating, scripted and full of inconsistencies.

It makes me feel sick.

@yellowbird: I thought the same thing! They were carefully to say professional counseling and licensed counseling. Seems very fake

This blog post provides some more details about the interview and specifically what was BS about it. The comments are great too. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2015/06/jim-bob-and-michelle-duggars-interview-with-megyn-kelly.html @anbanan15: She also points out that not only was it not a proper treatment center, it was part of an organization headed by a man who was later found to have molested at least 30 girls.