Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 60
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
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
