{"title":"Preventing Predatory Alienation by High-Control Groups: The Application of Human Trafficking Laws to Groups Popularly Known as Cults, & Proposed Changes to Laws Regarding Federal Immigration, State Child Marriage, & Undue Influence","authors":"Robin Boyle Laisure","doi":"10.54208/0002/004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/004","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, I summarize some of the significant legal developments in the United States that have taken place within the past year. First, United States v. Raniere was a criminal case launched against the founder of a purported self-help organization, NXIVM, and several of his associates. The Raniere case established precedent for using the human-trafficking statutes, among other grounds, to pursue justice for victims of high-demand groups. Second, the number of asylum seekers is increasing annually, and some of these undocumented immigrants are escaping from their countries-of-origin cults, gangs, and other extremist groups. However, once they arrive in the United States, there are many statutory and court-imposed requirements for establishing asylum; lawmakers should clarify or eliminate some of these requirements in order to fulfill the original purpose of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Third, setting the minimum age for marriage would help to reduce the number of child brides who are often pressured by cults and high-control groups.Fourth, still in need of refinement is the legal theory of “undue influence,” which potentially could aid cult victims in civil lawsuits against overreaching organizations and individuals. And finally, pending in the New Jersey legislature is the Predatory Alienation Bill, which calls for ongoing public-awareness campaigns, alienation counseling, and other remedies.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129863515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reinventing the Self: NXIVM’s Promises, Secrets, and Lies","authors":"S. Raine","doi":"10.54208/0002/005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/005","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, I examine the multilevel cultic organization NXIVM, using Susie Scott’s (2011) reinventive institution thesis—an update of Erving Goffman’s (1961) work on total institutions. Scott’s (2011) work addresses some of the broader sociocultural shifts that have fostered a turn inward toward self-improvement in the quest for new, transformative identities. Such shifts have created a proliferation of movements, organisations, and groups— including NXIVM—that offer ideologies and practices that promise to fulfill these reinventive goals. Offering opportunities for macrolevel and microlevel analyses, I employ Scott’s model not only to situate NXIVM within this cultural milieu, but also to examine some of the specifics of its structure, the nature of interpersonal relationships, and the promises that the movement and its founder, Keith Raniere, made. Moreover, as Scott’s (2011) work reveals, attractive as they may be, reinventive institutions incorporate structures of power thatrender them far from benign. Hence, by drawing on Scott’s postulations, I examine features of NXIVM that illustrate both the promises and problems of reinventive institutions. Moreover, I discuss those aspects of NXIVM that have more in common with total institutions than reinventive ones, demonstrating that, at least in this case, the two types of institution may operate within one organisation. To explore both reinventive and totalistic characteristics, I discuss some of the key features of the following NXIVM organisations: Executive Success Programs (ESP), Jness, the Society of Protectors (SOP), and Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS). Keywords: NXIVM, Keith Raniere, reinventive institutions, self-actualization, identity","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124652433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to Special Edition: Comparative Reflections on Scientology and NXIVM","authors":"S. Kent","doi":"10.54208/0002/002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/002","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue of the International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation is dedicated to articles about Scientology and NXIVM, so it offers an opportunity to present evidence, in an academic setting, about Scientology’s possible influence on Keith Raniere (b. 1960) and the organization that he founded. I provide, therefore, a summary of comments that former members and critics of both groups have made about the (alleged) Scientology influence on NXIVM, and I conclude with my own interpretations of why some apparent similarities exist between the two groups and their creators. I realize that my comments are only preliminary (pending the discovery of new information), and I identify some lacuna in both evidence and interpretation that further researchers may want to pursue.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131640006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM the Cult That Bound My Life (Sarah Edmondson)","authors":"Robin Boyle Laisure","doi":"10.54208/0002/007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/007","url":null,"abstract":"San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Prism. 2019. ISBN-10: 1452184267; ISBN-13: 978-1452184265 (hardcover). 243 pages. $5.10 (Amazon.com).","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"249 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122516108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Eternal Commitment: Scientology’s Billion-Year Contract","authors":"P. Lord","doi":"10.54208/0002/006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/006","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I analyse the billion-year contract, a fundamental instrument in the Scientology religion. This contract is signed solely by members of Scientology’s most senior order, the Sea Organisation, after they have proven their unqualified allegiance to the Organisation. I provide an overview of the Sea Organisation and of the onerous process that leads to it. I then undertake an analysis of the billion-year contract and its fundamental role in defining and strengthening the commitment that binds the members to their organisation. I conclude that the billion-year contract is, contrary to what the Church suggests, far more than a “symbolic” commitment—it is, at once, a rebellious, visionary, and constitutive act. Keywords: Law and religion, Scientology, billion-year contract, Sea Organisation","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131802838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Narcissistic Sexual Predation: Keith Raniere’s Grooming Strategies in NXIVM","authors":"S. Raine","doi":"10.54208/0002/003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/003","url":null,"abstract":"The 2019 trial of NXIVM founder and leader, Keith Raniere, detailed various forms and aspects of his exploitative practices, including those of a sexual nature. In this article I address a particular component of the sexual abuse process: the grooming of women for sexual exploitation. Many of Raniere’s teachings and behaviors prepared—or groomed—female members of NXIVM for his increasingly coercive and humiliating sexual demands. In addition to forms of grooming directed through group teachings, Raniere also established personal relationships with numerous women, during which he groomed them on an individual basis. Using Grant Sinnamon’s (2017) research on the grooming of adults for sexual abuse, in conjunction with Janja Lalich’s (1997) work on the psychosexual exploitation of women in cults, I analyze the many ways that Raniere groomed women in NXIVM. Furthermore, I integrate Sinnamon’s (2017) specific observations regarding narcissistic sexual predators to explore Raniere’s probable narcissism and how this manifested in his grooming practices.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129501859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Foreword to the International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, & Manipulation Special Edition","authors":"R. Dubrow-Marshall","doi":"10.54208/0002/001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/0002/001","url":null,"abstract":"Coercion, abuse, and manipulation is understood and defined across a wide array of academic, practice, and geographical boundaries. This malaise has no respect for the borders that society erects and the laws that reflect them. Those who perpetrate such coercion and abuse are also not concerned about the niceties of academic or legal definition and jurisdiction. The articles that comprise this special edition of The International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation (IJCAM), are a sad yet fitting testament to the boundaryless and intersectional world of coercion and its harmful effects that we inhabit. They are also a vivid commentary and analysis on how the legal system is dealing with these abuses and seeking to bring offenders to justice.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123755409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Leaving Christian Fundamentalism and the Reconstruction of Identity","authors":"Daniel W. Phillips III","doi":"10.54208/ooo1/1005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/ooo1/1005","url":null,"abstract":"New York, NY: Routledge, 2017, 264 pages. Australian Josie McSkimming, a former member of a Christian fundamentalist (CF) church for 30 years, provides readers with great insight into why a person might leave CF, the process of leaving, and how each person participates in his/her journey to reconstruct his/her identity. This monograph is a well-written contribution to the Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies series.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128240331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ailsa Parsons, Maria Kefalogianni, Linda Dubrow‐Marshall, R. Turner, Hailee Ingleton, Joanna Omylinska‐Thurston, S. Thurston, V. Karkou
{"title":"Reflections on Offering a Therapeutic Creative Arts Intervention With Cult Survivors: A Collective Biography","authors":"Ailsa Parsons, Maria Kefalogianni, Linda Dubrow‐Marshall, R. Turner, Hailee Ingleton, Joanna Omylinska‐Thurston, S. Thurston, V. Karkou","doi":"10.54208/ooo1/1003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/ooo1/1003","url":null,"abstract":"A new, evidence-based, multimodal, and creative psychological therapy, Arts for the Blues, was piloted with survivors of cultic abuse in a workshop within a conference setting. The five facilitators, who occupied diverse roles and perspectives within the workshop and research project, reflected on their experiences of introducing this novel intervention to the cult-survivor population. In this underreported territory of using structured, arts-based, psychological therapy with those who have survived cultic abuse, the authors used a process of collective biography to compile a firstperson, combined narrative based on those reflections. This approach allows for a visceral insight into the dynamics and obstacles encountered, and the countertransference responses of the facilitators. This reflexive process shined a light into aspects of research and practice that were not all visible to the individual researchers previously, with implications for research ethics, psychological therapy, and creative arts within the cult-survivor field.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128323810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Late Twentieth-Century Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Sects and Cults: Weston La Bare, Norman Cohn, & E. P. Thompson","authors":"S. Kent","doi":"10.54208/ooo1/1002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54208/ooo1/1002","url":null,"abstract":"Before the diminished influence of classical psychoanalysis in the late twentieth century, several now-classic studies of sectarian religions contained Freudian psychoanalytic perspectives on religious sects or cults. These studies included Weston La Barre’s analyses of both serpent handlers and the Native American Ghost Dance; Norman Cohn’s panoramic examination of medieval European sectarian apocalyptic movements; and E. P. Thompson’s groundbreaking examination of Methodism within the formation of English working-class consciousness. Regardless of the problems that are endemic to the application of Freudian psychoanalysis to history, the sheer (although sometimes flawed) erudition of these three authors suggests that classical psychoanalysis had an important interpretive role to play in the study of some sectarian and cultic groups.","PeriodicalId":441298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123498785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}