Southern Illinoisian
6.5.15 | Alee Quick
“It wasn’t rape or anything like that.”
That’s what Jim Bob Duggar – the patriarch of the famous Duggar family of TLC’s “19 Kids & Counting” told Megyn Kelly in an interview on Fox News Wednesday. He was talking about his eldest son, Josh Duggar, who fondled four of his sisters and a babysitter in 2002 and 2003.
As far as we know, Duggar didn’t penetrate his victims – penetration must happen or be attempted for a sexual assault to be considered rape – but it sounds like he certainly engaged in the “anything like that.” Sexual violence, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes unwanted sexual contact.
Jim Bob's statement is a perfect example of an attitude that has helped sexual assault become as pervasive as it is – one in five women and one in 17 men report experiencing rape – and has contributed to law enforcement and legislative indifference.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
