It's a Smallville Sex Cult after all?

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, it's very similar to the reasons that people will stay in abusive relationships. It's either fear and intimidation, or psychological manipulation until the person believes its the right choice (often both.)

[gameoverman]

My apologies, I typed in ignorance. I don't mean they would join up for that reason, but if someone placed a sexual requirement to stay within the group once included, I'd like to think some serious thought would go into that decision.

I still have a hard time understanding human behavior when it comes to cults and how seemingly rational people can get involved to the level where they would allow people to brand their flesh.

My observations of human behavior, not just in cults, is that there are at least two strong factors that help keep people locked in. One, the unwillingness to lose their investment. What if someone I trust asks me to invest X dollars in something they're doing? I might do it, hoping for the best even though some part of me knows this might be a scam. Then, later, he comes back and tells me he needs X more dollars from me or we'll lose the entire investment. Obviously it's a scam, so I should say no. The problem is I already have X dollars invested, if I walk away I lose that money. So I might convince myself to invest more in an attempt to 'save' my investment. In reality the investment was lost the moment I gave it to him and there's nothing to save. Not everyone will allow themselves to see that.

The other factor is not wanting to admit you're wrong. And the more serious the thing, the less likely someone is to want to admit they were wrong about it. If I lost X dollars in that hypothetical investment, I myself might spin it as a gamble I took that didn't payoff. To admit it was a scam is to admit I fell for it, and a lot of people would not be able to bring themselves to make an admission like that.

So these cult members have invested who knows how much personal time and money. They've possibly sacrificed relationships with people who cared about them, just so they could be in this cult. They've defended the cult against everything anyone has told them about cults and how cults work. That could be why, at the moment of truth, they simply could not walk away. They might have thought that if they just take this one last step everything will work out.

[Isgrimnur]

[YellowKing]

I've been watching this documentary, and out of all the cult stuff I routinely watch, NXIVM is really one of the most insidious cults I've seen. Usually in cults you see every member buying into the insanity over time, but NXIVM really kept a lot of the cult elements somewhat hidden from the majority of the members. So I can see how tons of people could get sucked in thinking it was just, aside from a few quirky terms and practices, a really progressive business venture.

I think it was also very subtle in its entrapment methods. It was less "you're not allowed to speak to your friends and family" and more "you're going to find yourself working so hard you don't have time for your friends and family." Members were given the illusion of freedom and free-will, which must have really reinforced the idea that it was anything but a cult.

At any rate, really fascinating. The documentary is riveting given all the footage they have since NXIVM was very open in documenting the stuff they didn't need to hide from the public.

[Smoove_B]

Keith Raniere, leader of Nxivm sex cult, is sentenced to 120 Years in prison

[Smoove_B]

Allison Mack has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for her role in the Nxivm case. Also a $20,000 fine.

[malchior]

Wow - that was way lighter than I expected. She did ultimately cooperate but she was in the center of it. Today was a banner day for accountability.