I’ve been watching the Duggar family on TV for a few years. Sure, there are lots of comparisons to be made with That Other Family I Will Never Blog About Who Also Have A Show On TLC, but I think the Duggars are sufficiently interesting on their own.

For those unfamiliar with the Duggars, chances are you won’t be for too long, if for no other reason than they will soon have generated a large enough family to take over the state of Arkansas. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are members of the Quiverfull movement, which espouses the belief that every child is a gift from God and thus that birth control is a sin. As a result, Jim Bob and Michelle are the proud parents of 18 children – and as they announced yesterday on the Today show, soon to be 19, who all have names that start with J. Their eldest, Josh, will soon have his own first child, which means that the Duggars’ first grandchild will be older than their youngest child.

18 Kids and Counting; Josh and Anna often wear matching shirts

There are a lot of things to really goggle over as far as the Duggars are concerned, most of which come from the intensity and rigidity of their belief system. But certainly the only reason I or anyone else is writing about the Duggars is that they have capitalized on reality television by making a show about their family, 18 Kids and Counting, that transforms voyeurism into a form of evangelism. 18 Kids and Counting is perhaps the only reality show I’ve seen where the people who are on the show seem constantly aware of the cameras and conscious of their role as television personalities. The Duggars seem to have realized that they can use people’s curiosity about their lives as a way of educating and encouraging other families who believe as they do, and generating knowledge and tolerance in those who do not. In at least one concrete way, they have been successful in reaching out to other like-minded families – last season on the show, Josh married a girl named Anna, who learned about him by watching his family’s hour-long Discovery channel specials. On their old hour-long specials as well as on this new weekly show, the Duggars are never rude, uncontrolled, or over-scripted. They are friendly, approachable, and never judgmental. They also state their beliefs in direct, concise language, and talk about their faith openly. In other words, 18 Kids and Counting is the only reality show where I feel like the Duggars are exploiting me just as much as I’m exploiting them. In…you know, in a well-intentioned way. Sort of.

Helpful captions explain why Anna wears the world's largest bathing suit; some of their J names are more plausible than others

Which is why I watch with equal parts shock and bemusement as Josh and Anna describe never kissing each other until marriage, Michelle talks about praying for President Obama, and the little kids are gently prevented from dancing along with music they hear in a store (because dancing isn’t allowed). I smile as the eighteen perfectly groomed children make gruesome faces while eating food they don’t like at an Ethiopian restaurant. And two seconds later I remember they believe I should submit my every word and deed to my husband’s will. It’s fascinating, and upsetting, and disturbing, and actually quite entertaining. If the Duggars want to teach me about how they live, I feel all right watching them and enjoying my own sense of surprise and alarm. After all, we derive pleasure from things that give us strong emotional reactions, and indignation can be as enjoyable a reaction as any