Over the past few days, the biggest news out of Tontitown, Arkansas has had to do with the news that the Homeland Security agents raided the Duggar compound for reasons that remain mysterious.
Details are scarce, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about the situation — it was initially rumored tha the FBI raided Josh Duggar’s home, but that turned out to be false — but the investigation could wind up unearthing some secrets that Jim Bob would prefer remained buried.
Anyway, with all that going on, it’s no surprise that the Duggars felt the need to get out of the compound and spend some time in God’s country.
Okay, so the camping episode of Counting On was actually filmed several months ago and the only “God’s country” the Duggars know is ‘Merica, but you get our point.
Yes, it was the Duggars in the great outdoors on TLC this week.
The highlight of the trip was Josiah and Lauren’s pregnancy announcement, which was blurted out as the family snarfed down hot dogs.
It probably wasn’t how Lauren imagined sharing the news with her in-laws, but she didn’t get any say in the matter.
Of course, as we were repeatedly reminded over the course of the episode, there are very few matters in which the Duggar women do get any say.
As you’re probably aware, the Duggars are flat-out obsessed with rules, and no one has to comply with more ordinances than Duggar women.
It’s worse if you’re young and single, but the situation doesn’t really get much better with age and marriage.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, as soon as the Duggars arrived at the campgrounds, the women were separated from the men.
This allowed for the male Duggars to participate in some sort of weird scavenger hunt while the females set up camp.
The task was made more difficult by the fact that the women were abiding by the Duggar dress code, which meant most of them were wearing long skirts and other bulky clothing.
One would think that setting up a campsite would be considered a job for the menfolk, but it seems that in Jim Bo’s world all menial tasks are thoroughly beneath beneath anyone with a penis.
And if you thought the indignities would end there, you don’t know the Duggars!
While all women are beneath men in Jim Bob’s estimation, it seems he doesn’t hold all women as equally lowly.
No, there’s hierarchy, you see, and since the Duggars believe procreation is their sole reason for being, pregnant women are at the very top of that hierarchy.
(But they’re still lower than men, of course.)
And so, the pregnant Duggars were permitted to use the bathroom inside the family’s RV, while everyone else was forced to … dig a hole in the ground.
We kid you not.
Setting aside for a moment that that sort of thing is generally not permitted in public parks, imagine for a moment that you’re Jana Duggar, digging a “bathroom hole” in the ground as penance for your unforgivable crime of being single.
We’re sure Jana is already well aware that she’s considered less than her sisters due to the fact that she has yet to pop out an offspring.
Forcing a 29-year-old woman to defecate in a hole in the ground really just drives that point home and highlights the sort of passive-aggressive cruelty that characterizes life in the Duggar household.