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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30046 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 13, 2023

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Are you confused about why most cult leaders are charismatic men?

I presume some of the gender imbalance is linked to intentional recruitment practises by such a cult, especially since I think that most cult leaders (being overwhelmingly male) certainly enjoy having more submissive women around for their sexual enjoyment, and this only ceases to apply when a cult gains some degree of legitimacy or a large amount of growth, where the dude in charge has reached saturation for the number of women he can fuck, and doesn't particularly care who they rope in next. Or they might pass away and hand the torch to other followers, who I suspect are more likely to be "True Believers" and less internally motivated by such.

I also believe that women are naturally more inclined to fall for cultish practises/woo, not that it's exclusive to them. How many men do you see unironically espousing astrology or healing crystals?

I’ve long suspected that such a dynamic actually is what drives recruiting. A group of men cannot attract women to join for the purposes of sexual access. Women can. In fact, in most cases it’s the woman who looks after the spiritual side of things. If she’s devout, then the children and the husband will be in church. If she doesn’t care, then odds are that the family won’t be observant. Even in dating, men are far more likely to play act religion even if they don’t believe it if they think they’ll have access to a woman they want.

Children are more likely to stay in the religion if their father practices than if the mother practices. It isn't obvious to me why

Are you confused about why most cult leaders are charismatic men?

Nah.

But as to the rest of your comment, was there any evidence that the leader of the group was getting laid by the female members?

Seems like the whole premise of the group is "there's one (1) singular person out there for you, I'm here to help you find them" which seems less likely to lead to drug-fueled orgies than claiming "I am Jesus born again, bang me to secure your place in heaven" or whatever.

And that's why you would think, as word spread, that men might join the group and play the game for a chance to become a given woman's "twin flame".

I guess the question is why did men's innate horniness drive more of them to the group?

How many men do you see unironically espousing astrology or healing crystals?

Not much, but you get the weird gymbro/tradbro sort of thing like perineum tanning and whatever the Liver King advocates. And of course there are those who accuse Andrew Tate of being a cult leader.

Anyhoo, my last thought is that as we've seen a large rise in the share of single adults, I bet more cult-like groups that promise to help find love rise to prominence in the near future.

But as to the rest of your comment, was there any evidence that the leader of the group was getting laid by the female members?

I think that's a fair assumption to make in the case of most modern cults, even if it's not necessarily applicable in this one.

I joked with my wife in the first episode "How long until the cult leader just starts fucking all the women?"

Surprisingly, it hadn't gotten that far yet. Although the final episode talks about him buying several hundred acres in the middle of nowhere, and wanting his cult members to move out there. He wants his "harmonious couples" to start having "golden children" that are already ascended. However, since most of them are sterilized women pretending to be men, he will be picking who the biological fathers will be.

Pretty sure you only need one guess how that's going to end up.

Although the final episode talks about him buying several hundred acres in the middle of nowhere, and wanting his cult members to move out there. He wants his "harmonious couples" to start having "golden children" that are already ascended. However, since most of them are sterilized women pretending to be men, he will be picking who the biological fathers will be.

Ah.

Yeah this just sounds like the Branch Davidians with extra steps.

Heaven's Gate sterilized many of its members before their more famous mass suicide.

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