Search results
The word cult is not a term of abuse, as this paper tries to explain. It is nothing more than a shorthand expression for a particular set of practices that have been observed in a variety of dysfunctional organisations.
Jul 5, 2021 · Until very recently, Berman argues, we would not have recognized the victimhood of women who consented to their own abuse: “It has taken the #MeToo movement, and with it a paradigm shift in our...
Sep 11, 2019 · So you can see that there are many parallels between how cults indoctrinate and control their members, and how highly dysfunctional families perpetuate their abuse. The further I get into my career, the more I tend to think of abusive, highly dysfunctional families as “little cults.”
- Triggering Events
- Cults and Control
- Cults and The Appeal of ‘Family’
Steel reveals members of cults usually experience a triggering event prior to joining. This is backed up by various scholarly sourceswho’ve written about religious conversion and those who join extremist groups. A triggering event may be something like a divorce, the death of a loved one, or another event that’s traumatic, or perceived as traumatic...
This is where the study of cults gets interesting and even controversial. As Steel outlines with countless examples, cults often seek to control every aspect of one’s mental and physical existence. Unless one is born into the group, as Steel also notes, people (overwhelmingly women) choose the group for themselves, albeit without information about ...
Why do ostensibly free individuals join these types of restrictive and often damaging groups, obsessed with female reproduction and sex? From the 1960s, the contraceptive pill for women (making it easier to choose pregnancy or not), the legalisation of abortion (which has just become complicated in the United States, of course, with the repeal of R...
May 2, 2022 · In other words, abusers—whether cult leaders or people who dominate their intimate partners—don’t have inherent power. They’re not smarter or better than you. They’re not special. They’re insecure people with anger issues, who—with the right support and planning—you can leave.
Religious abuse is abuse administered through religion, including harassment or humiliation that may result in psychological trauma. Religious abuse may also include the misuse of religion for selfish, secular, or ideological ends, such as the abuse of a clerical position.
As defined here, cults (on the high-demand/high-control end of the social influence spectrum—see below) are at risk of abusing members, but do not necessarily do so:
