Ruby Franke

[amado1]

Stayed up late last night watching the 20/20 doc on Ruby Franke...god. Not the best thing to watch before going to bed.

Kudos to Jessi Hildebrandt for that ending message though. They sign off by saying essentially, "We can't lose sight of the fact that this happens all the time. This particular case seems so awful and dramatic that we think it can't possibly happen in our communities or families, but it IS happening." Basically calling out these religious communities where this type of abuse is normalized. Not every parent gets into the exact strange circumstances that allowed Ruby Franke to imprison and starve her kids with therapist approval, but those punishments, that language and mindset, are very common in places like rural Ohio where I grew up.

Comments

[x003]

I just watched it too--thanks for the rec! You're totally right; Jessi had it on the nose. The UK is much less overtly religious than the US, but growing up rurally here, that rhetoric about disobedient children was used a lot, too. An interesting and miserable watch.

[diva_samodiva]

Where can you find this documentary? I only see the latest mormon stories podcast with Jessi Hildebrandt from four weeks ago when I search ;-;

[amado1]

It’s from 20/20! It’s the latest episode.