4 ICSA TODAY
The vilification and control of sexuality in high-demand groups
(HDGs, or cults) is well-documented and often cited as one of the
defining characteristics of cultism in general. Nowhere is cultic
sex negativity more pronounced than in the treatment of sexual
minorities.
Defining Terms
The term sexual minority has generally been used to refer to
people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered.
I would argue that sexual minority can be applied in a much
broader sense to refer to anyone outside the accepted norms
of sexual interest (who—or what—one finds sexually attractive
at any given time), sexual orientation (who one finds attractive
in general), sexual identity (how one identifies one’s sexuality),
gender identity/orientation (with which gender, if any, one
identifies) and gender expression (the gender, if any, one expresses
in public). Moreover, there are lifestyles that might be considered
those of a sexual minority. These include everything from
nonmonogamy (e.g., polyamory) to pansexuality (fluid sexual
interest depending on the individual, regardless of the gender) to
asexuality (little to no sexual interest).
For the purpose of this article, normative sexuality refers to
those who identify as heterosexual (“straight”), cisgendered
(one’s gender identity matches one’s anatomy at birth) and
monogamous (one’s sexual behavior is restricted to one partner),
and who typically engage in sexual activity within the bounds
of a committed relationship or marriage. In my work as a sex
therapist, I also usually define sex as any activity that involves
genital contact of any kind thus, having sex can refer to manual,
oral, anal, and “rubbing up against” genital contact and also to
vaginal-penile intercourse.
Sex Negativity
Many, but certainly not all, people coming out of cults have
experienced an array of sex-negative messages, at times implicit
but more often explicit in the cult’s ideology or theology. By sex-
negative, I am referring to an attitude toward nonnormative (and
at times even normative) sex that induces or is associated with
guilt, shame, humiliation, or a combination of these. In some
religious cults, shame is greatly exacerbated by the attachment
of nonnormative sexual feelings, thoughts, and behaviors to
spiritual ruination (e.g., demonic possession) that are claimed
may even damage the spiritual health of ancestors and also
future offspring (Unificationist theology is a prime example of this
perspective). In therapy cults, sexual shame is often associated
with psychodiagnostic labeling and condemnation (e.g., “acting
out” or “sexual addiction”), while in some political cults sexual
shaming can be tied into a highly rigid self-condemnation for
being “bourgeois,” “sexist,” “classist,” and so on.
In a small number of cults that coerce sexual behavior, a
member’s failure to engage in prescribed but unwanted sexual
behavior can be used to induce guilt and shame in that member.
The Rajneesh group was infamous for making members
“confront” their “sexual hang-ups” by engaging in unwanted,
often nonnormative sex, for example. Other groups, often
referring to themselves as “therapeutic,” demand either rigid
abstinence from or coerced engagement in sex to supposedly
“heal” from past sexual trauma.
By Steve K. D. Eichel
Sex Therapy with
Former Cult Members
The vilification and control of sexuality in high-demand groups
(HDGs, or cults) is well-documented and often cited as one of the
defining characteristics of cultism in general. Nowhere is cultic
sex negativity more pronounced than in the treatment of sexual
minorities.
Defining Terms
The term sexual minority has generally been used to refer to
people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered.
I would argue that sexual minority can be applied in a much
broader sense to refer to anyone outside the accepted norms
of sexual interest (who—or what—one finds sexually attractive
at any given time), sexual orientation (who one finds attractive
in general), sexual identity (how one identifies one’s sexuality),
gender identity/orientation (with which gender, if any, one
identifies) and gender expression (the gender, if any, one expresses
in public). Moreover, there are lifestyles that might be considered
those of a sexual minority. These include everything from
nonmonogamy (e.g., polyamory) to pansexuality (fluid sexual
interest depending on the individual, regardless of the gender) to
asexuality (little to no sexual interest).
For the purpose of this article, normative sexuality refers to
those who identify as heterosexual (“straight”), cisgendered
(one’s gender identity matches one’s anatomy at birth) and
monogamous (one’s sexual behavior is restricted to one partner),
and who typically engage in sexual activity within the bounds
of a committed relationship or marriage. In my work as a sex
therapist, I also usually define sex as any activity that involves
genital contact of any kind thus, having sex can refer to manual,
oral, anal, and “rubbing up against” genital contact and also to
vaginal-penile intercourse.
Sex Negativity
Many, but certainly not all, people coming out of cults have
experienced an array of sex-negative messages, at times implicit
but more often explicit in the cult’s ideology or theology. By sex-
negative, I am referring to an attitude toward nonnormative (and
at times even normative) sex that induces or is associated with
guilt, shame, humiliation, or a combination of these. In some
religious cults, shame is greatly exacerbated by the attachment
of nonnormative sexual feelings, thoughts, and behaviors to
spiritual ruination (e.g., demonic possession) that are claimed
may even damage the spiritual health of ancestors and also
future offspring (Unificationist theology is a prime example of this
perspective). In therapy cults, sexual shame is often associated
with psychodiagnostic labeling and condemnation (e.g., “acting
out” or “sexual addiction”), while in some political cults sexual
shaming can be tied into a highly rigid self-condemnation for
being “bourgeois,” “sexist,” “classist,” and so on.
In a small number of cults that coerce sexual behavior, a
member’s failure to engage in prescribed but unwanted sexual
behavior can be used to induce guilt and shame in that member.
The Rajneesh group was infamous for making members
“confront” their “sexual hang-ups” by engaging in unwanted,
often nonnormative sex, for example. Other groups, often
referring to themselves as “therapeutic,” demand either rigid
abstinence from or coerced engagement in sex to supposedly
“heal” from past sexual trauma.
By Steve K. D. Eichel
Sex Therapy with
Former Cult Members
