Duck Dynasty Patriarch: Child Brides Are Ideal

duck dynasty

Phil Robertson, the “Duck Dynasty” patriarch, has been under fire for his controversial and antiquated views for over a month now. In addition, the duck call entrepreneur has also generated controversy for inauthenticity. Older pictures of the Bayou businessman turned rugged reality TV star have raised questions about how much is real and how much is just clever marketing. Whether viewers have been turned off by Robertson’s nostalgia for the Jim Crow Era, his anti-gay statements, or because they feel they have been played by the mallard mimicking millionaire, “Duck Dynasty’s” ratings took a swan dive on the season debut.

Whether the redneck schtick is an act or not, many of Robertson’s views appear to be mired in a pre-modern mindset. Most of the media attention has been focused on his anti-gay remarks and his peculiar defense of pre-civil rights era Louisiana. However, Robertson’s misogynistic view of women also raises questions about the world view he and his supporters embrace.

He advises men to marry child brides so that the ladies don’t pick your pockets. These women should cook and clean and carry a Bible. In an interview that was posted in 2009 and resurfaced on YouTube recently, Robertson advised men that good women are hard to find, stating:

They got to where they’re getting hard to find, mainly because these boys are waiting ’til they get to be about 20 years old before they marry ’em. Look, you wait ’til they get to be 20 years old, the only picking that’s going to take place is your pocket. You got to marry these girls when they are about 15 or 16. They’ll pick your ducks.

He added:

Make sure that she can cook a meal. You need to eat some meals that she cooks, check that out. Make sure she carries her Bible.

In Robertson’s world child brides make better wives because they will cook and clean your duck kills for you, instead of picking your pockets. While some may suggest that all of this was said in jest, it should be noted that Robertson wed his own bride when she was just 16 and he was 20. To cosmopolitan Americans, Roberston’s views on women may seem absurdly outdated. Yet given Robertson’s long line of defenders on the right, including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl, perhaps he is merely saying what many of them are thinking. To those on the political far right, America was a better place when gays were in the closet, blacks were relegated to second-class citizenship, and women folk were married off before they finished high school.

 

Edited by DH.

Keith Brekhus is a progressive sociologist who resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. Keith is a former Green Party candidate for US Congress (2002 in Missouri's 9th District). He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus.