The XX Factor : duggars

The Opposite of Reality

Bonnie Goldstein — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:53:00 GMT

We live in an environment where self-branding is a lifestyle choice and self-promotion is confused with achievement. Breaking through the 4th wall (when reality contestants talk to the camera) is not the same as actual contact between player and watcher,...(read more)

I'm Just Not That Into Your Televised Family

Jessica Grose — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:48:00 GMT

I want to welcome Willa Paskin, who comes to the XX Factor from dear departed Radar magazine, where she covered high and low culture with equal enthusiasm. I agree with Willa on the He's Just Not That Into You pheonomenon: It always seemed bizarre to...(read more)

"Which One Would You Give Back?"

Elisheva Weiss — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:56:00 GMT

Noreen , I feel your pain. As the oldest of 11 children, I am no stranger to the raised eyebrows that come with the large-family territory, and I am constantly taken aback by the questions people feel they can ask me (like whether I think my parents are...(read more)

Maybe the Duggars Are The World's Largest Rorschach Blob

Noreen Malone — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:37:00 GMT

Jessica , I think you're right that the fascination with the Duggars and their cohort is more than simple freak show, can't-look-away compulsion. People are always oddly obsessed with/judgmental of big families, even if they're not extreme cases. I'm...(read more)

The Octs Have It

Torie Bosch — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:16:00 GMT

Jessica , you're right—TLC must be salivating at the thought of signing a reality TV show deal with the mother of the octuplets. (Incidentally, the word octuplets appears in neither my Word spell checker nor in the dictionary Slate uses, though the dictionary...(read more)

Octuplet Obsession

Jessica Grose — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:55:00 GMT

What was she thinking, Bonnie ? Maybe she was thinking that she'd get a reality TV show. While there's always been some interest in massively fertile women, it seems that in the past few years, more and more of these moms-of-multiples have been getting...(read more)

Big Family Values

Torie Bosch — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:22:00 GMT

Michelle Duggar gave birth to her 18 th child this week. The megamom is something of an icon in homeschooling and Quiverfull circles, but whenever I see her in the news, on the Today show, or on her family's numerous reality-TV shows and specials, I find...(read more)