Family Research Council: Josh Duggar’s Former Employer Addresses Pornography Addiction

The Family Research Council, Josh Duggar’s former employer and a well-known conservative political lobbying group, has talked in the past about pornography, expressing the belief that any indulgence in adult films is dangerous to the soul as well as to healthy relationships and to an individual’s own mental health. Their perspective isn’t new. However, as the Duggar family blames Josh’s alleged porn addiction for his other actions, and as the family moves toward a new round of reality shows and further television fame, the latest release from the FRC is particularly interesting.

Without mentioning Josh Duggar by name, his former place of employment published a blog post this week explaining what the reality star should have done with his sexual urges, rather than turning to the internet and to sexual behaviors that range from socially unacceptable to illegal and abusive to satisfy them.

In a post on his mother’s blog in August, Josh Duggar blamed his actions on a secret addiction to internet pornography. Shortly after, the Family Research Council released a statement, condemning their former employee’s actions and expressing that, while all people may make mistakes or sin, those in public life must hold themselves to a higher standard.

Later though, Yvette Schneider, an ex-analyst for the FRC, spoke out in a piece for the New Civil Rights Movement, saying that she wasn’t surprised by the revelations. She went on to say that many of the people she worked with, either in the FRC or in similar positions, were guilty of similar duplicity: an FRC founder caught with a (same-sex) escort (the FRC, if you aren’t aware, takes a strong position against LGBT rights and believes homosexuality is a sin), cheating and theiving pastors, “ex-gay” spokespeople carrying on secret relationships even as they preach against the same sexual choices.

She further described the teachings she says lead to this duplicity: essentially, the teaching that sexual desires should be repressed, “laid down,” avoided, or ignored. She describes teachings that tell adherents to feel shame for their sexual urges — and says these feelings of shame conflict with teachings of being “chosen” by God.

“The mixture of inadequacy and the pressure to appear superior is a potent concoction that often leads to acting out.”

Bearing in mind both this, and the fact that Josh’s wife is expected to spill her guts in the upcoming TLC specials, the latest post on the Family Research Council’s blog seems quite relevant.

Referring to “the battle against pornography,” the writer for the group offers what he calls a common-sense strategy, and it sounds a lot like what Schneider described.

“…the simple reality that natural sexual desires and energy can be redirected, and that this is something that is healthy and necessary for human beings to flourish.”

The blog goes on to describe what the young Duggar (and others like him) ostensibly should have done in his teens to prevent the entire series of events that followed.

“When a stronger sexual energy does come, as it inevitably will from time to time, experience tells us that it can be redirected toward a creative activity such as playing music or dancing, or it could simply be a physical activity like going for a run, playing sports, building a bookshelf, working in your garden, landscaping, cleaning, etc.”

In fact, the blog even suggests that this choice will eventually lead to the downfall of the adult film industry:

“Through self-discipline and redirecting our sexual energy, the temptation to consume pornography can be avoided, and thus the possibility of an addiction can be stopped before it starts. This will in turn decrease the demand for porn, and eventually lead to a decrease in its production and dissemination.”

The problem with this cure, however, is that it appears to be the very thing Josh was taught: the family doesn’t believe in kissing before marriage, holding hands before engagement, or hugging members of the opposite sex face-to-face. (“Side-hugs” are allowed in courting and engagement, and full frontal hugs may be shared only after marriage).

The family says that children’s internet access is monitored, and Michelle Duggar has even blogged about the requirement that unmarried males and females aren’t allowed out together without a chaperone.

In short, the Duggar children have been very much raised, at least in the public eye, with rules and teachings that say to ignore, avoid, and redirect sexual urges and situations — yet contrary to the statement from the Family Research Council, Josh Duggar has been the center of scandal openly since spring — and apparently behind the scenes for years.