Why Jinger Duggar Is Considered The Rebel Of The Family
The Duggar family, stars of now-cancelled TLC shows "19 Kids and Counting" and "Counting On," wrote the book on behaving modestly. No, really, they wrote a book about staying modest (via E! News). They believe in looking and behaving a certain way due to their strong religious convictions. Each of the 19 kids who make up the Duggar family were instilled with these values from their parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. These values include limited television access, modest dressing, and even the inability to dance, cites Cheat Sheet.
With all of these intense rules in place, it's easy to crown any child who steps even slightly outside of the Duggar box as rebellious. The first of the children to pave her own way was Jinger Duggar. After marrying her husband Jeremy Vuolo, Duggar began wearing pants and dyeing her hair. With his support, she started doing these things and more that are considered rebellious by the Duggar crowd (via Hollywood Mask).
She moved to a big city
Even before tying the knot with Voulo, Jinger was all about city living. According to Cafe Mom, Jinger has been dreaming of living in a big city since her days on "19 Kids and Counting." Growing up in a small town in Arkansas was not enough for Duggar. She always liked the fast pace of the cities her family would travel to while on the show. She vowed to call the hustle and bustle of a big city home one day.
She was able to make that dream happen when she married Vuolo. Though he lived in Loredo, Texas at the time of their marriage, they would eventually move up and move to Los Angeles, California, per InTouch. Most of her siblings still call rural Arkansas home. She began her rebellious streak by being the first Duggar to permanently move far away from her family's hometown when she moved to Texas. She took it a step further by moving to the edgy L.A. area.
She wears pants
Both fans and Duggar family critics alike are aware of the first step Jinger took to freedom from her family. Her classification as a rebel began when she started wearing pants! The world collectively lost their minds when a Duggar daughter stepped out in pants for the first time, per InTouch.
Jinger did some soul searching to reach the point of wearing pants. Via People, she writes in her book "The Hope We Hold: Finding Peace in the Promises of God,” "My mom had always dressed as girls in skirts and dresses, a standard that was taken from Deuteronomy 22:5, which says, 'A woman shall not wear a man's garment,' (ESV) and I never really questioned it. Modesty was a huge topic in our house, and we believed that wearing skirts instead of pants was a central part of being modest. But I wanted to discover for myself what the Bible had to say." It turns out, her studying of the bible solidified her belief that women can wear pants. A revolutionary thought! While this may seem silly to those outside of the Duggars' way of life, wearing pants and being a woman is a major act of rebellion for this family.
She had a total hair transformation
The Duggar girls have always been known for their long and flowing hair. According to Romper, the Duggar daughters emphasize the importance of having long hair in their book "Growing Up Duggar." "Our hairstyle is our choice and we choose longer hair based on our understanding of 1 Corinthians 11:14-15. While it is a shame for a man to have long hair, a woman's hair is her glory," they wrote. Their stance on hair length is firm, but the controversy over dyeing it is less intense. It seems like the Duggars are free to color their hair, as matriarch Michelle Duggar has been seen on the show with foils in her hair. However, staying your natural color seems to be encouraged. Jinger broke yet another mold when she dyed her hair a different shade.
The Duggar daughters are known for their brunette locks. In 2019, the rebel Duggar died her hair blonde (via Cafe Mom). She was the first in the family to go make such a drastic hair color transformation.
While Jinger's means of rebellion are not daring for most of us, her actions are certainly groundbreaking when you look at the strict lifestyle she grew up in. Wearing pants, living in a city, and dyeing your hair is likely second nature to you. However, this family sees the world totally differently. We applaud Jinger for living her truth!