Amy Duggar has never been a fan of following her family's rules, especially the ones put in place by her domineering uncle Jim Bob.

As you're probably aware, Jim Bob takes tremendous pleasure in controlling just about everyone who crosses his path, but his daughters are his favoruite victims.

Amy Duggar was once so close to her cousins that she was almost like another daughter to Jim Bob.

Of course, there was one important difference between Amy and the rest of the Duggar women:

Amy grew up in a much more permissive home, and throughout her adolescence and young adulthood, she was permitted to engage in behaviors that would have gotten her female cousins disowned.

We don't mean to say that Amy engaged in any truly aberrant behavior, but she dated and listened to non-Christian music, and by Duggar standards, that made her the most dangerous sort of rebel.

These days, Jim Bob's empire has fallen, and several of his daughters seem to have realized that she was the sane one all along.

For some of them, it might be too late to make amends.

But for Jill Duggar and others who cut ties with Jim Bob long before the latest Duggar scandal, this is the time when their good sense will begin reaping rewards.

As they enter the post-cult period of their adult years, they can look to Amy for cues on how to live their lives that are free from their father's constant manipulation.

Jill Duggar befriended Amy shortly after she parted ways with her parents back in 2019.

As such, she's had a guide for her new life as a free woman, and Amy has been able to assist Jill as she's explored everything from drinking alcohol to wearing whatever the hell she wants.

Yes, leaving the cult behind means abandoning the infamous Duggar dress code and wearing clothes that are appropriate for an actual grownup.

In this respect, Amy has led by example, showing her cousins -- and by extension, the world -- that clothing can be a powerful expression of one's personality.

And for those who grew up in a cult, fashion offers one of the simplest means of expressing one's newfound freedom.

No one has taken greater advantage of this freedom than Amy, who owns a fashion boutique and frequently posts pics of her sharpest looks.

Earlier this week, Amy posted a pic in which she can be seen wearing a swimsuit and hanging out at the beach with her husband Dillon and her son Dax.

"My mind and my heart needed a break. A nice relaxing break away from it all to clear my head and just spend time with my loves," Amy captioned the photo.

Now, Jill Duggar has been rocking swimsuits on Instagram in recent weeks, and while her suits are hardly Duggar-approved, they're still much more conservative than Amy's.

As far as we know, no Duggar woman has ever rocked a swimsuit as revealing as Amy's, which is surprising, as Amy's really isn't that revealing.

But she knows what she's doing when she posts a pic like this, and she knows that signs of female empowerment such as this constitute the greatest threat to misogyinists like Jim Bob.

Which is just one more reason why we encourage Amy to continue sharing her authentic self online.