Counting the Cost

Counting the Cost is, in large part, a memoir about abuse, specifically of abuse within a fundamentalist Christian family and of a young woman. During her childhood, Jill experienced emotional abuse and lived in a highly controlled environment. Her parents placed firm restrictions on what she and her siblings could wear, read, and even think. In one anecdote, a family at an IBLP conference explains that they have trained their children to answer any and all parental instructions with “yes, ma’am/yes, sir, I’d be happy to!” (39). The Duggars adopt this policy with their own children. Along this line, Jill also experiences spiritual abuse: She is taught to be afraid of her own thoughts and does whatever she can to keep them “pure” so that she can avoid sinning or causing others to sin. In this environment of intense control, Josh Duggar commits sexual abuse against his sisters (and another girl). Jill and her sisters are repeatedly re-traumatized when they have to describe the abuse, while Josh receives no professional intervention and is simply sent away to perform manual labor. Thus, much of the abuse is sexual in nature and is specific to a Christian fundamentalist household.