The Gist

Once again, a documentary took much longer than necessary to communicate its information. If you don’t want to sit through the entire thing, here’s what we learned. Additions welcome.

-The Duggars were part of Bill Gothard’s IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles). I’m gonna call it iBlip.

-iBlip’s approach to Christianity resembles that of Gilead (THE HANDMAID’S TALE) or the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).

-Survivors say the organization grooms girls to become victims of sexual predators. Their recovery site is https://www.recoveringgrace.org/.

-iBlip includes multiple program facilities (including those that prepare youth for paramilitary involvement and political activity) and a homeschooling curriculum called ATI (Advanced Training Institute) with material of questionable validity (download here: https://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/wisdom-booklet-archive-index/). Survivors found the facilities abusive.

-Girls must wear dresses down to their ankles. They cannot cut their hair. No kissing until your wedding.

-Domestic discipline requires instant obedience, gives all authority to the husband/father, and permits corporal punishment of wives and children.

-iBlip is touted to be enormous and invasive, infiltrating prisons, schools, and the military, but their annual revenue is only about $91 million.

-The Duggars knew about Josh abusing his sisters when they signed on for the TLC show. Their big house was built with a catwalk system separating the boys’ (one) bedroom from the girls’ (one) bedroom. The parents’ bedroom sat between them.

-Parents’ and authority figures’ interactions with children are almost schizophrenically inappropriate, such as the sweet-voiced, gentle promise of encouragement to convey impending corporal punishment.