These days, the whole world knows that Josh Duggar is the worst kind of sexual predator.
Back in December, Josh was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography, charges that could land him behind bars for 20 years when he’s sentenced in April.
But in the early years of his family’s reality TV stardom, most fans regarded Josh as just another wholesome member of the ever-expanding Duggar clan.
In retrospect, however, we can see signs of his deviancy in seemingly innocuous scenes from the early days of 19 Kids and Counting.
Maybe Jim Bob and Michelle were more permissive in those days, or perhaps Josh simply got away with more as the eldest child.
Whatever the case, it seems that every few weeks we’re reminded that in his youth, Josh reveled in the sort of ribald humor that he knew would make those around him uncomfortable.
The trend began with a resurfaced clip in which Josh joked about incest while filming for 19 Kids.
Now, another scene has captured the disgusted attention of Duggar critics.
And many believe it’s a reflection of the extent to which his family turned a blind eye to the early warning signs of Josh’s predatory behavior.
The scene finds Josh accompanying a pregnant Anna to a doctor’s appointment.
She requests prenatal vitamins, but states that she needs the chewable variety, as she’s been struggling with morning sickness in recent weeks.
“I need to get chewables because I can’t swallow right now with the morning sickness,” Anna says.
“Are they just hard to swallow?” the doctor asked — and it was then that Josh saw his opportunity to deliver a creepy double entendre.
“She’s like the master at swallowing,” he joked.
“But as soon as she’s been going through the morning sickness, she cannot do it at all.”
At this point, Anna was visibly uncomfortable, but Josh persisted with his lame attempt at humor.
“She’s anxious to find out, it’s different. She’s never been to the doctor for this reason before,” Josh continued, a sly smile on his face.
Throughout the ordeal, Anna looked at her husband with imploring eyes, obviously embarrassed by his comments.
But of course, that wasn’t enough to make him stop.
“It’s just all too much…I hope he rots,” one critic wrote on Reddit, according to The Sun.
“Poor girl. She was for sure embarrassed.”
Another pointed out that Josh seems to feel the need to maintain a dominant position during the scene.
“Why is he standing! Why does he keep his hand on her shoulder the whole time line he’s calling dibs? It’s SO creepy,” they wrote.
“This is that ‘the man is the head of the wife’ stuff in action,” a third person chimed in.
“She looks to him and he even answers questions for her. That’s weird- and I’m SURE it set off alarm bells for the doctor, too.”
Obviously this sort of thing pales in comparison to what Josh would be accused of later.
But looking back now, it comes off as a warning sign that was ignored by those around him.
Jim Bob and Michelle typically forbid their children for swearing or discussing sexual matters of any kind.
These are children who aren’t even allowed to hold hands with the opposite sex until they’re married.
So why was Josh allowed to make so many gross jokes on camera?
Well, sadly, his parents’ permissive attitude on such matters was likely a reflection of the mentality that led them to help Josh hide his earliest sex crimes and continue getting away with all manner of disgusting behavior.
Will never know what led them to extend such protection to their eldest, but we know that the results have been devastating.
