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Robert Hale‘s (1994) interesting study of who tends to be a serial killer is relevant to our
investigation of cults and cult leaders. Hale emphasizes the role of rejection in childhood or
adolescence, often in the form of humiliation or embarrassment, as a critical factor in
repeated attempts to do away with those who caused these negative feelings. They keep
killing because they can never kill their real target and so continue to slay the substitutes.
It occurred to me as I reread his paper that the repeated homicidal effort was something
like Lady MacBeth washing her hands over and over again trying to get rid of the blood, yet
never quite succeeding. Hale‘s paper was published before we became aware of Aum
Shinrikyo, but it has application here as we look at the long festering anger at the world
that caused Asahara to feel shamed and humiliated: his almost total blindness his
attendance at a special school that offered limited opportunities his double failure in the all-
important university examinations the poverty in which his family lived and his rejection
by classmates and others in his community. When Asahara became familiar with the
writings of a number of religions, both Eastern and Western, he found a way to gain power
over those who had in his mind wronged him. Jim Jones, too, had feelings of rejection,
shame, and embarrassment stemming from his childhood that were later expressed in his
manipulation of and his acts of violence toward others (Lifton, 1999). Indeed, a sense of
power, of complete control, is what being a cult leader is all about.
Mention should be made as well of devil worship groups and Satanic cults. They may or
may not have millennarian views, but they attract many youths who, like the boys in
Colorado, Arkansas, and Tennessee, feel like outsiders among their age peers. These
groups tend to be isolated in specific communities rather than nationwide, and carry out
their activities in different ways from other groups. Animal sacrifice, public displays of
Satanic signs and symbols, ritual abuse, and violations of burial sites are examples of their
activities, the goals of which seem to be to rebel against society and perhaps frighten
others, thereby giving the perpetrators a sense of power that they might not otherwise
have.
Women and Cults
Looking at the role of women in cults, Palmer (1994) found that it varied from celibacy to
virtual prostitution, from servitude to occasional leadership, from being a ―sister‖ in the
Unification Church to being ―mother‖ among the Krishna Consciousness or Hare Krishna
members. Sexual exploitation is common, with the woman being manipulated into believing
that her relationship with the group‘s leader is an honor, a blessing, or a special gift (Lalich,
1997). Typically, women could find what they needed, or felt they needed, in some group,
whether it was simple acceptance after rejection, celibacy after being wounded emotionally,
salvation, expression instead of repression, or moral certainty instead of moral ambiguity.
Among the needs met, according to Rosen (1997), a social worker who counts many ex-cult
members among her clients, is a return to the relative peace of latency, i.e., an absence of
sexuality. They also respond positively to the idea of helping others, a common recruiting
appeal (Rosedale, 1995).
In some groups, a type of asexuality or unisexuality is practiced. This is true for those who
attain ―Thetan‖ status in Scientology, and for the followers of Bo and Peep (Palmer, 1994),
who are better known under other names (Marshall Applewhite and Bonni Lui Nettles) for
their later leadership of the ―Heaven‘s Gate‖ cult, whose members committed mass suicide
in March 1997. Unisex clothing is worn and androgyny is practiced. In other cults, men
and women are seen as completely different, with women, for example, seen as less
spiritually pure than men in ISKCON (the Hare Krishna movement). Sexual celibacy is
stressed among the Hare Krishnas, with intercourse reserved strictly for procreation,
whereas a much more promiscuous lifestyle for both sexes was practiced among the
followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Unlike their role in most other cults, Bhagwan‘s
female followers were seen to have ―superior charismatic qualities to men‖ and to be better

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―receptacles‖ for ―Bhagwan‘s energy‖ (Palmer, 1994, p. 52). This, to non-followers, would
appear to be a highly convenient way to exploit women sexually. To many of the female
members, however, the relaxed attitudes toward sexual relationships, opposition to
marriage generally but fidelity in marriage specifically, the ban on pregnancy, and the pre-
eminence of women in positions of authority were perceived as attractions (Palmer, 1994,
p. 63). Other groups have actively used women‘s sexuality to attract prospective recruits,
and the women were obviously able to rationalize this virtual prostitution as essential to the
goals of the group.
This is very different from the role of women in the Unification Church, headed by Rev. and
Mrs. Moon, where marriage is a key component of the group and is blessed – often literally
by the thousands – by Rev. Moon. The young women who became part of the Unification
Church were often attracted by the cordial friendships that they could have with their
―brothers,‖ uncomplicated by sexual advances, and welcomed the ―Matching‖ done by Rev.
Moon that resulted in a marriage sanctified by him but that was not consummated, typically,
until several years later.
The value of marriage is elevated above the goal of personal happiness to
become a means of uniting humanity, ushering in the millennium, and
guaranteeing personal salvation. Because of its religious basis and the
impossibility of divorce, Unificationist way of marriage promises young
women stability and permanence in their chosen career as wife and mother
(Palmer, 1994, p. 102).
Elizabeth Claire Prophet, one of the few women to lead a cult (Church Universal and
Triumphant, or CUT), says that she voluntarily remains in her body while she fulfills her
missions of being ―the one and only mouthpiece of God, ...a guru and spiritual teacher in
the flesh. Thus, her word and position are beyond reproach, and her power over CUT
members is absolute‖ (Gasde &Block, 1998, p. 197). In the 1980s, CUT had moved to
Montana and built underground shelters there in anticipation of a nuclear attack tied to
expectations of the arrival of the millennium. Prophet‘s illness, which has reduced her
functioning and her impact, has resulted in male leadership and a shift toward sharing their
teachings out in the world rather than literally holing up in Montana (CUT leader diagnosed
with Alzheimer‘s amidst institutional changes, 1998).
Rosedale (1995), an attorney and president of the American Family Foundation, maintains
that a woman is likely to have more postcult difficulties than a man, whether she marries
within a cult and then seeks to leave with or without her husband, or even if she remains
single and attempts to leave. If she attempts to accuse a cult leader of sexual abuse, if she
attempts to take her children with her, if she claims that her husband was abusive, then
anything that she may have told those in the group when she was first recruited is likely to
be used against her, and anything she did while in the group will be used to proclaim her
unfitness to have custody of her children. Rosedale also believes that it is more difficult for
a woman to regain her trust in others or her own self-esteem than it is for a man. In this,
there are similarities to victims of rape and to victims of spousal infidelity (Schwartz &
Kaslow, 1997).
Any counselor working with women who have exited a cult needs to provide a low-key,
psychologically safe and trustworthy environment to enable the client to feel she has some
control over what is happening in therapy (Dahlen, 1997). Indeed, this is essential to the
client ultimately taking responsibility for her own healing.
Child Abuse
Abuse of children in cults takes many forms: physical punishment, isolation, starvation,
absence of appropriate medical care, inadequate schooling, lack of appropriate affection,