Josh Duggar Is in a Toxic, Misogynist Cult

No one should be surprised at what he did

Former reality-TV star and right-wing political activist Josh Duggar’s arrest on April 29, 2021, has set everyone from the national media to niche YouTubers talking. The fact that he and his family present themselves as examples of “good old fashioned, Biblical family values” only adds to the shock (or schadenfreude) of him being arrested for possessing images of child sexual abuse (formerly called “child pornography”).

Since then, a lot has been spoken and written about Josh, his arrest, and his past. However, having lived near the Duggars all my life, I have a perspective that not many others do, and I’d like to correct a lot of the things that are being said about Josh and his family. More importantly, a lot of critical context about his family is either missing or being glossed over — particularly the ways that the cult the Duggars belong to enables and covers for sexual abusers.

But first:

Some Background

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with their many children, lived first in Springdale, then Tontitown, Arkansas, two of the dozen or so communities making up the Northwest Arkansas metro region. This is where I have lived, studied, and worked my whole life. I first learned about Jim Bob, and then his family, in 1999, when he ran as a Republican for state representative — and won. He was my representative in Little Rock from 1999–2002, though he absolutely did not represent my values or best interests.

After that, Jim Bob ran a couple more political campaigns, first for the U.S. Senate in 2002, then the State Senate in 2006 — both of which were unsuccessful.

But his influence on state and local politics continued — former governor of Arkansas and failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee often rubbed elbows with them. Jim Bob, Michelle, and, later, Josh pushed for regressive, misogynist, and homophobic laws, under the justification of “traditional family values.” Their anti-LGBTQ lobbying was based on accusing trans folks of being sexual predators, just waiting to enter women’s bathrooms in order to rape them.

All the while, Michelle and Jim Bob were hiding an actual sexual predator.

Josh Duggar’s First Offenses

Starting in 2002 — during the time Jim Bob was running in the Republican primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate — Josh, then 14, began sexually assaulting some of the girls in his family. The girls — five in all — alleged that Josh would fondle their breasts and genitals while they were asleep, and one girl alleged that he fondled her by force while she was awake.

The abuse apparently went on for about a year. During that time, allegedly, Josh confessed to his father about his behavior multiple times. However, neither he nor Michelle ever went to the Division of Children and Family Services or any other authorities. They instead discussed it with their church elders — their church being Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, a sect recently accused of sheltering sexual abusers for decades.

In the church’s teachings, allegations of sexual misconduct are to be dealt with in the family and church, not by going to the authorities — a convenient belief for a group full of sexual abusers. So in the spring of 2003, Jim Bob sent Josh to a “Christian counseling facility” in the old VA hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. To be clear, this “counseling facility” was no such thing. It’s not clear exactly what it was. In later interviews, Jim Bob would say he couldn’t even recall what the facility was named, only that it involved “hard physical work and counseling.” Michelle said that they had sent Josh to work for a friend who had a remodeling business. She also affirmed that the “friend” was not a licensed counselor or therapist.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the old VA hospital, at that time, was owned and run by the Institute in Basic Life Principles, a ministry founded by televangelist Bill Gothard.

According to the Democrat-Gazette’s reporting, Gothard began renovating the building in order to run a youth-offender facility using its “Bible-based rehabilitation program.” Yet the ILBP claims to have no records from the facility at that time, and current IBLP staff claim they don’t know what was going on there in 2003.

I bring this up not only to correct the record that many are reporting — that Josh went to “counseling” after he assaulted his family members — but also because understanding Bill Gothard, and his organization, is key to understanding the Duggars.

Bill Gothard and the Advanced Training Institute

As I stated, the Duggars identify as Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. But where the Duggar children get most — if not all — of their daily homeschooling and life lessons is from the Advanced Training Institute, the “educational” branch of Gothard’s IBLP.

For a bit of history, the IBLP was founded by Gothard in 1961, under the name “Campus Teams,” since its primary focus was on proselytizing to young people. After a couple more name changes, it finally settled on the Institute in Basic Life Principles in 1989.

IBLP opened up several training institutes across the country, one of which was supposed to be in the old VA hospital in Little Rock where Josh was sent. These training institutes were designed to “rehabilitate” troubled young people who had sinned — and according to Gothard, anything from participating in sports to having a boyfriend counted as a sin.

The training centers — which were not staffed with certified counselors or subjected to oversight of any kind — were basically forced labor camps. Teens were given no education, forced to work long hours — sometimes up to 100 hours a week — and locked in their quarters at night. In these training centers, Gothard was the ultimate authority, and he — and his staff — ruled with an iron fist.

But Gothard wanted to make sure that all his followers’ children, not just the troubled ones who got sent to his training centers, could be indoctrinated in his beliefs, so he founded the Advanced Training Institute.

The ATI curriculum teaches that the Bible — as the literal, infallible word of God — must be at the center of every lesson, leading to some shockingly inaccurate lessons, particularly in science and history.

The ATI curriculum also has a big focus on teaching students how they should behave. Immediate, unquestioning obedience to authorities is foremost, and ATI prescribes beatings to discipline children for even the most trivial of infractions, like failing to complete a chore on time or arguing with a sibling. Even more disturbing, the Duggars participate in “blanket training,” where toddlers and small children are placed on a blanket, and a toy is placed just out of reach. When the baby reaches for the toy or moves off the blanket, the parents will slap or hit them in order to instill fear and obedience. (Katie Joy has a really insightful video on this — and a lot more about the Duggars in general.)

“Purity” and “modesty” are also very important to Gothard, and the way girls dress, sit, walk, and speak is strictly laid out in his ATI curriculum. Dancing, sports, and other normal activities are forbidden for not being “modest” enough.

Pre-marital sex is, of course, off-limits, as is dating or even holding hands before marriage. After marriage, women are to be totally subservient to their husbands — including being sexually “available” to their husbands at all times. Wives are not allowed to work outside the home. And of course, birth control is strictly forbidden.

Since Gothard is so focused on girls’ and women’s bodies and sexuality, the ATI includes lessons on sexual assault. The lesson is, essentially, that girls are responsible for being modest and chaste so as not to “tempt” men and boys into sin. And if she is sexually assaulted? The curriculum instructs her to ask herself what she did to allow it to happen.

The lessons never recommend reporting a sexual assault to anyone but the family patriarch or the church elders. Therapy is likewise off the table.

Perhaps even worse than the victim blaming and shaming, the ATI teaches that victims are to immediately forgive their abusers, regardless of whether her abuser has asked for her forgiveness.

With such a creepy, misogynist belief system taught by an authoritarian leader, it’s no surprise that in 2014, multiple women (and men) came forward accusing Gothard and IBLP staff of sexually abusing them while they were at his training centers. It was apparently an open secret. The old, never-married man always had several young, attractive girls around him, so much so that staff jokingly referred to them as his “harem.” Daniel Dorsett, one of Gothard’s personal drivers, testified that he witnessed Gothard sexually abuse as many as 150 girls between 1994–96.

Immediately after the allegations went public, Gothard resigned as head of IBLP. In October 2015, several women brought suit against the IBLP for sexual harassment and assualt, as well as failure to report sexual abuse to the authorities. In early 2016, more women joined the suit and Gothard was added as a defendant along with IBLP.

However due to the “unique complexities” of the case, and the fact that the statute of limitations had run out on most of these crimes, the women were forced to withdraw their suit in 2018.

But that was not the end of their fight. Several people who were victimized by Gothard and the staff at the IBLP launched a website, Recovering Grace, for them to tell their stories and try to educate others.

Josh Gets a ‘Stern Talk’ from Another Pedophile

In July 2003, Josh, now 15, returned home from his three-month “counseling” at the IBLP training center in Little Rock.

Apparently, Jim Bob and the church elders decided he still needed more “counseling,” so they had a family friend, a state trooper named Joseph Hutchens, give him a “stern talk.” Hutchens, as a corporal in the state police, was a mandated reporter, meaning if he even suspected child abuse, he was required by law to report it to the proper authorities.

Hutchens not only did not report the abuse Josh confessed to, he didn’t even file a police report of the conversation, so no other law enforcement officials were aware of Josh’s crimes.

Four years later, in 2007, Hutchens would himself plead guilty to eight felony counts of “possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.” He was sentenced to five years in prison, but only served three. Hutchens was released in 2010, but shortly afterwards, while still on parole, he was arrested again and charged with four counts of “distribution, possession or viewing of sexually explicit material involving a child.” This time he was sentenced to 56 years in prison, where he sits to this day.

Knowing this about Hutchens, it puts his decision to cover up Josh’s crimes in a new, more disturbing light.

The Rise and Fall (and Fall Again) of Josh Duggar

Meanwhile, the Duggar family continued growing, and their fecundity garnered them lots of publicity, eventually leading to them getting their own reality show on TLC. 17 Kids and Counting first aired on TLC in December 2008; the title would change to reflect the number of children the Duggars had each season afterwards.

Josh was an adult by that time, but he was still a big part of the show. His wedding to Anna was aired as its own stand-alone show, A Very Duggar Wedding, in January 2009, and several episodes of 19 Kids and Counting are devoted to the births and birthdays of his and Anna’s children.

During this same time, Josh was beginning his career in politics, because in a good-ol’-boy state like Arkansas, it’s expected that Jim Bob’s oldest son would follow in his footsteps. Josh first started working as a part-time political consultant while running a used car business in Springdale. Then in 2008, he worked for Mike Huckabee (who was also chummy with Gothard) during his presidential primary campaign. In 2012, he spoke at rallies in support of presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

Then in June of 2013, Josh moved up the halls of power considerably. He and his family moved to Washington, D.C., so he could take the position as the executive director of Family Research Council Action, a reactionary right-wing lobbying group. When they announced his hire, FRC Action called Josh “the new face of faith and politics.”

Besides opposing women’s rights, the FRC Action’s work is primarily to block or roll back the rights of LGBTQ people using debunked pseudoscience and fear-mongering, including conflating LGBTQ people with pedophiles.

Let me repeat that: Josh Duggar, who molested five young girls, was calling LGBTQ folks pedophiles.

However, life in the big city must have been too much for him to handle after a famously sheltered childhood. Because within two years of moving to D.C., everything would come crashing down around him.

Going back to 2006, the Duggar clan was set to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. But just before their appearance, an anonymous person tipped off the producers about Josh’s crimes. Oprah, a fierce advocate for sexual abuse survivors, immediately canceled the family’s appearance and reported the allegation to the authorities.

The Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services, along with the Springdale Police Department, opened an investigation into the allegations. The police interviewed several family members, including the girls who had been assaulted. Josh, however, refused to sit for questioning. Regardless, the investigation uncovered the facts that are by now familiar: Josh had fondled five of his close family members, all underage girls, between 2002 and 2003.

But there was a problem. When Jim Bob told Joseph Hutchens — the now-twice-convicted pedophile — about what Josh had done, the police asserted that counted as “reporting it to the authorities,” and started the clock on the statute of limitations. By the time an actual investigation began, in 2006, the statute of limitations had run out on Josh’s crimes.

However, legal experts say that while the statute of limitation for civil suits had expired in 2006, it had not expired for criminal prosecution, which is seven years after the date the abuse occurred.

Since the police couldn’t (or wouldn’t) bring charges against Josh, the SPD quietly closed the case and filed it away.

Nine more years went by while Josh continued to build his career in right-wing politics.

Then in May 2015, another anonymous tipster contacted In Touch Weekly with information about the 2006 investigation. In Touch Weekly filed a Freedom of Information Act to obtain copies of the police reports, and when they saw what those reports contained, published the bombshell story.

In the wake of the expose, Josh apologized for his “wrongdoing,” and his victims, as mandated by their church, forgave him. In public statements, his parents and other supporters (including Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum) offered sympathy and excuses for Josh.

Not one word was said offering sympathy or understanding for his victims. The only defense they got was, justifiably, outrage at the way In Touch had failed to adequately safeguard their identities. In order to “protect” them (after they had already been identified and even spoken out publicly), juvenile court judge Stacey Zimmerman — who, coincidentally, has ties with Huckabee — ordered all records from the 2006 investigation destroyed.

After his crimes finally became public, Josh resigned his position at FRC Action. The Duggars’ show was canceled by TLC soon afterwards.

But that was not the last of Josh’s actions coming back to bite him in the ass. Just a few months after his crimes were made public, the website Ashley Madison was hacked. The site, if you don’t already know, is a dating site for married people to find extra-marital affairs. The hackers released the site’s info showing that Josh had not one, but two accounts on it, and had paid nearly $1,000 for a “guaranteed affair.”

Again, Josh had to make a public apology — though this time, at least his “sins” were with consenting adults. In his apology, he claimed he suffered from a porn addiction.

Then, right on the heels of the Ashley Madison scandal, another woman came forward with troubling allegations. Sex worker Danica Dillon — real name Ashley Johnston — filed suit against Josh, alleging that he brutally assaulted her during an otherwise consensual sexual encounter for pay. Josh denied the allegations, claiming he had Uber receipts proving he was not in the area at the time of the alleged attack.

Unsurprisingly, Dillon found that her status as a sex worker meant that many in the media and legal system didn’t take her allegations seriously. She quickly realized her case was “a losing battle,” and told the Daily Mail, “I didn’t have the income to take on TLC or the Duggar family.” She eventually withdrew her suit.

However, Josh had now been outed for sexual misconduct multiple times. He flew to Rockford, Illinois, in one of his brothers’ private planes, to check himself into Reformers Unanimous, another Biblically based “rehab” program that doesn’t employ any licensed mental-health providers or have any oversight.

For a while, he was able to keep out of the public eye — at least as much as a Duggar can stay out of it. Anna, of course, stuck with him and continued having his babies. TLC soon rebooted the Duggars’ show — notably, without Josh — under a new name, Counting On. And life for the Duggar clan seemed to go back to normal.

What Josh Was Doing

In late 2019, there was a hint that trouble might be on the way back to Josh, when federal agents raided his used car dealership. The entire incident was kept very hush-hush; the nature of their investigation, what they were looking for, if they found anything — none of it was released to the public.

But those of us who know Josh Duggar suspected it was something like this. Sex offenders — especially pedophiles — require long-term, intensive therapy from qualified mental-health professionals. You can’t “pray it away.” And Josh was practically swimming in a culture that excuses and enables sex offenders.

Evidence shows the Duggars knew something else was going to go down after the raid. In 2020, Josh started moving a lot of his assets; he sold the family home and bought a new, unfinished home in Springdale — but didn’t move into it. Instead, he sold it to an LLC in Anna’s name and immediately put it up for sale. He then moved Anna and their six children into a windowless outbuilding on Jim Bob’s property.

He also shuttered his used car dealership and immediately opened four limited liability corporations in Anna’s name. Remember, in the Duggars’ fundamentalist worldview, only the husband, as the head of the family, is supposed to own and manage the family’s financial resources.

Though this raised some eyebrows among those who are familiar with the Duggars, the wider public knew none of this.

Now we know that during that 2019 raid, federal investigators found what they describe as a “treasure trove” of images of child sexual abuse on Josh’s work computer, with some of the victims as young as 18 months. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerald Faulkner, who examined Josh’s computer, described it as “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”

Josh is facing two charges of downloading and possessing images and videos depicting sexual abuse of minor children, each of which could carry a 20-year prison sentence.

He has pled not guilty and claims the images were downloaded by one of his co-workers. However, Josh’s work computer had a specialized app called “Covenant Eyes” running on it, which sends periodical screenshots to a “trusted friend or ally,” in this case, Anna. It also had a Linux operating system installed specifically to hide its browser history from the app. That operating system could only be accessed by a password — the same one Josh used for his social media accounts. Text messages from his phone also show that he was at work at the times the images were downloaded.

As of this writing, Josh has been released on bail on the condition that he is not allowed to live with minor children, even his own, or to have access to the internet. He is allowed only supervised visitation with his six children. His trial date is tentatively scheduled for July 6. (Update: his trial date was moved to Nov. 30, 2021).

I think the most tragic aspect of this case, one that most sources aren’t connecting the dots with, is how at every step of the way, Josh’s victims were failed by the people and authorities around them. They belonged to a church that enabled and covered up pedophiles. Their daily lessons and the counseling Josh underwent were designed by a pedophile. The cop who should have reported the abuse was a pedophile.

Is it really so unbelievable that Josh would end up following the tradition?

Update — Aug. 24, 2021: In a not-very-shocking turn of events, the “rehab center” Josh went to after getting busted on Ashley Madison, Reformers Unanimous, just got busted for — you guessed it — covering up years of sexual abuse.