some thoughts on this very weird internet niche of stay at home daughter bloggers
In college, I was fascinated and a bit repulsed by the stay-at-home-daughter movement. I came from a very liberal, secular, mainstream background, so it was more of a curiosity for me, not something that affected my life.
In my opinion, a lot of the courtship bloggers gained traction because there is a lot that is broken in mainstream culture, especially when it comes to how we approach sex and relationships. The problems a lot of these fundamentalist bloggers identified: the hookup culture, the delayed marriages, devaluing family formation, are real. It makes the life the Botkins are presenting -- and the spiritual and material certainty -- very seductive.
That said, I think it is a mistake to blame the Botkin sisters for abuse anyone experienced after deciding to become a stay-at-home daughter themselves. I think it is sufficient that they have updated their views and been so open about it. At some point we all have to take responsibility for our own lives. Everyone encounters bad, damaging, or harmful ideas all the time. That doesn't mean the person who introduced that bad idea is responsible for you winding up in a bad situation down the line. If a young woman finds herself in an abusive situation, the blame should be directed towards her abuser, not a book written by a couple of smug teenagers.