Jinger Duggar And Jeremy Vuolo: ‘Free Jinger’ Community Responds To Duggar Daughter’s Courtship Announcement
Jinger Duggar may soon be moving out of her parent’s house in Arkansas, but some members of Freejinger.org — an online community dedicated to discussions about the Duggar family, religious fundamentalism, misogyny, and a variety of other topics — aren’t so sure that the 22-year-old Jill & Jessa: Counting On star will exactly be “free” from the patriarchal beliefs that have kept her from going to college, leaving home to live on her own, dating multiple guys, or wearing pants.
As Us Weekly reports, Jinger Duggar’s beau is 28-year-old Jeremy Vuolo, a former professional soccer player who won Jinger over last summer during a mission trip. Jeremy asked Jim Bob Duggar for permission to court his daughter, and now Duggar fans will get the chance to watch Jeremy and Jinger’s love story play out during the upcoming season of Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
Jinger Duggar and soccer player Jeremy Vuolo are officially courting https://t.co/EOqw0wOD1p pic.twitter.com/97TD089SMO
— People Magazine (@people) June 20, 2016
Jinger Duggar holds a special place in the hearts of commenters on the Free Jinger website, a web forum where critics of the Duggars snark on the family and discuss their strict religious beliefs. The group was created in 2005, one year after the Duggars’ first TV special, 14 Children and Pregnant Again, premiered on the Discovery Health Channel. Free Jinger chose to name its community after Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s sixth child because members had hopes that Jinger would eventually reject her family’s strict religious rules.
“Jinger is one of the middle Duggar daughters, and the only one who shows a spark of life. If anyone is going to break out of the Duggar Borg, our money is on Jinger,” an account of the website’s history reads. “One theory is that she resents her name being misspelled just so her family could keep their J streak going.”
https://www.facebook.com/duggarfamilyofficial/photos/a.516618088471845.1073741827.510067475793573/786132161520435/?type=3&theater
It shouldn’t be surprising that commenters on the Free Jinger forum had a lot to say about Jinger Duggar’s courtship announcement. There are already three threads on the topic, and there are a wide variety of opinions about Jeremy Vuolo.
“I have to add that this guy is hot and looks kinda normal. I’ll shut up until after they both start spilling s**t out of their mouths, but let’s hope this is the guy that frees Jinger,” one commenter wrote.
However, it wasn’t long before forum posters started expressing their concern and dismay that Jinger Duggar’s life won’t change for the better if she marries Jeremy Vuolo. The goal of a courtship is marriage, so there’s a high likelihood that Jinger will be getting a TLC wedding special.
“I don’t see anything to get excited about. I am just going to be mean and say it. Why would a good looking, educated, employed, professional athlete want an uneducated woman who has been sheltered to the point of never having gone to the grocery store by herself and has never been allowed an independent thought?” one skeptic’s popular post read. “If he had it all together he would want more out of a potential spouse. Instead, he wants someone who is submissive, he can control and mold into what he wants them to be. He didn’t go after anyone on equal footing or who even has her own identity or goals.”
According to Jeremy Vuolo’s website, he decided to pursue a relationship with Jinger Duggar when he discovered that she is “a humble, meek, modest, intelligent young woman with a burning desire to sacrificially serve the Lord in any way she could.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jeremy’s life experiences differ greatly from Jinger’s sheltered existence, which includes only being home schooled and never living outside of her parent’s home in Arkansas. Jeremy attended college at Syracuse University, where he partied, drank alcohol, and even got arrested once. Jeremy also strongly hints that he is not a virgin in a “Testimony” video in which he describes “sliding deeper and deeper into the pits of lust.”
One commenter wondered whether Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar would allow any of their sons to date an older woman who is not a virgin, suggesting that there is likely a double standard when it comes to men having sex before marriage.
“Another thing that bugs me about this is that I can’t imagine any of the young Duggar men being allowed to date an older woman who has a past, no matter how much Jeebus juice she’s consumed, or how many times she’s become a born again virgin. Patriarchal double standards at work. Plus the woman’s advanced age would limit her capacity to create more Duggar spawn.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jim Bob Duggar has compared people who have sex before marriage to cups of spit.
Jinger Duggar’s boyfriend gave up his soccer career and is now a pastor at a small church in Laredo, Texas. During an interview with the Daily Orange, he confessed to struggling with a desire for fame, and one Free Jinger commenter suggested that he views Jinger as a “perfect fundie trophy wife” and his ticket to becoming a TV star. Another wondered whether Jim Bob Duggar pushed Jinger and Jeremy together to create a storyline for Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
Do you think Jeremy Vuolo will have a positive or negative impact on Jinger Duggar’s life? Sound off below!
[Image via TLC]
