Gosh, aren’t we all feeling a bit sorry for Anna Duggar, wife of Josh Duggar? First she weathered the release of the news that he had fondled his sisters and other girls and now, the revelation of his Ashley Madison account and porn addiction. She says she knew about the fondling and believed it was behind him, but what is she thinking now?

My friend Kathy posted an article on my Facebook wall that says that Anna is partially blaming herself for Josh’s issues. It’s easy to think “WTF?” when you read it but it isn’t surprising. She’s been raised to believe that woman serve their men sexually and apparently, between the pregnancies and raising the kids (while he was out raising his flag pole, so to speak) she may not have been serving Josh or may not have been in tune with his needs and issues.

Let’s face it, she’s stuck. She’s in a religion that may shun her if she leaves Josh. That means her family will turn away from her meaning no support there. She and Josh have a covenant marriage which makes it much harder to dissolve and she has a limited education. It’s reported online that she has a degree in Christian Education but let’s be real, that’s going to be a tough one to make money with, no matter what the circumstances.

That’s the real shame here – that she has so few options.  I don’t understand how teaching your daughter to be beholden to a man, is a Christian value. Sure, Jim Bob and Michelle could help out, but if she gets free of Josh, if I would suggest, limiting their influence in her life as well. And if she stands by her man, she will spend her whole life praying he doesn’t wander or molest again.

As Americans, we look around the world and chastise countries and religions for how they treat women but all we have to do is look around and see it exists here as well. Not every American woman has the options we’d hope for them. Today, from my IPod I’ve selected “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.”  This is a song about a woman who hits the wall in her marriage and gets out.  If only Anna was allowed to listen to this kind of music…