For most people, a stance against wearing pants simply means wanting to feel comfortable in their own homes. Not so for the Duggars.
Amy Rachelle King, better known as Amy Duggar, was labeled the “wild cousin” because she had a modicum of personal freedom. Namely, she wore pants.
While Jim Bob imposed many restrictions upon Amy, her slightly more normal way of life led to judgment from her cousins when they were younger.
It’s not their fault, Amy says. They were raised to think that everything normal is abnormal.
Amy Duggar spoke to The Sun about the cultural right that she felt growing up around her cousins.
The extreme fundamentalists of her family considered her to be living an “immodest style” of life, from her clothing to her habits.
Deanna raised her with less strict rules, so “I was in jeans and bright colored shirts climing trees,” Amy recalled.
“I was a wild tomboy,” Amy described. “I loved nature and being outside.”
She detailed: “I loved music, I could date. I would do all the things normal kids and teenagers would do.”
Amy admitted: “I was extremely known as the black sheep. They would never say black sheep, but I was like the wild cousin.”
Amy acknowledged that her clothing, hobbies, and interests simply made her a “normal, regular person.”
But in the eyes of her cousins, she was somehow a “bad, wild girl.”
Amy expressed: “I was like what the heck? Why am I wild in their eyes?”
This “wild” label ended up meaning that there were special rules about how she could interact with her own family.
“I couldn’t spend the night, they couldn’t be in my car,” she lamented.
Amy added: “There were several things that I was like, ‘What did I do? Why am I so wrong?’
Of course, when cousin Josh Duggar’s molestation of his sisters and a babysitter was revealed in 2015, things started to click.
Some of these rules were intended to shame her, but some may have been “invisible” safety rules to keep her from being alone with a predator.
“Now I see it as more of a protective measure,” Amy suggested.
Amy did admit that she “absolutely” felt like her cousins were judging her simply for being herself.
She takes it with a grain of salt however.
Given the toxic atmosphere in which Jim Bob and Michelle raised them, Amy explained that her cousins “just didn’t know better.”
“I’m a little different than they were,” Amy explained. “But it didn’t make me wrong.”
The issue was simply that her cousins didn’t have any real experiences with a normal, free person.
“I wasn’t wearing what they were wearing,” Amy described. “I wasn’t talking the way they were talking.”
“I could watch TV,” Amy noted.
She added: “I could go to the movies and mall, and they honestly couldn’t.”
“It set me apart without really trying to,” Amy went on. “They were sheltered growing up.”
Of course, part of the point of the Duggar lifestyle is to create a group of siblings so insulated that they find anything outside of the cult to be strange and foreign.
Normally, people who encounter different people and lifestyles get to understand them by simply talking to them, working with them, and learning.
For fundamentalist cultists who are not given the opportunity to do this, the only response is to close ranks and cast judgments.
Deanna also spoke about Amy’s upbringing.
“I am so proud of Amy,” she gushed about her daughter. “She’s such a strong woman.”
Deanna praised: “She has become an amazing woman to take a stand like this.”
“I gave Amy freedom to choose what she wanted to do like dances,” Deanna noted.
“I was raised more conservative so it was nice to see Amy have that freedom,” she commented.
“My mother was conservative in her thinking,” Deanna recalled. “I was not allowed to go to dances, but I let Amy go to dances.”
Deanna very correctly emphasized: “It’s important to give your kids the freedom to make choices.”
Amy also commented on how cousins like Jana, Jill, and Jinger are now wearing jeans, short dresses, and participating in society in other ways.
“I’m very proud of them. They’re all very sweet,” Amy praised. “They’re growing and evolving. We’re all doing that. It’s exciting to see.”
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