157. CULTS: How NXIVM Controlled Women & How Sarah Edmondson Helped Take It Down

We Can Do Hard Things

Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

Relationships, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2022

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1. How attending a personal development training at a Holiday Inn led to Sarah being branded in a sex "secret sisterhood" initiation ceremony. 2. Her path from top recruiter to the whistleblower who helped take down the cult and its leader Keith Ranieri. 3. Why we’re all susceptible to cult culture – the need for belonging, the temptation of simplification, and how we’re trained to deny our gut instincts. CW: Discussion of cult culture and sexual coercion About Sarah: Sarah Edmondson is an actor, podcaster, author, and cult-recovery advocate. Sarah has starred in a number of TV series, yet she is most recently known for her real-life saga escaping the multi-level marketing company NXIVM – and DOS, a “secret sisterhood” within NXIVM – which can also be seen on HBO’s The Vow. Sarah’s memoir Scarred shares her true story from the moment she joined NXIVM, to her harrowing fight to get out and bring its founder to justice. Sarah co-hosts the podcast A Little Bit Culty with her husband Anthony ‘Nippy’ Ames, and lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons. TW: @sarahjedmondson IG: @sarahedmondson Sarah’s resource page: https://www.sarahedmondson.com/resources Steven Hassan’s BITE model: https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/

Transcript

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0:00.0	I walk through a fire, I came out the other side.
0:09.6	Welcome to We Can Do Hard Things.
0:12.2	This is going to be a fascinating episode.
0:16.2	Today, I want you all to know that we are going to talk about some hard things.
0:21.6	One being cults and other organizations who are, as our guest would say, a little bit
0:27.7	culty.
0:28.7	Including detailed discussion of cult culture and sexual coercion.
0:34.4	Now, I want you all to understand that I am slightly obsessed with the cults.
0:39.8	Yes, me too.
0:40.8	And high control groups.
0:41.8	And Nexium really got me.
0:44.9	Yep.
0:45.9	Here's the thing.
0:46.9	I don't look at it as like a salacious, how could you get involved in this situation
0:53.1	when I watch this stuff or learn about this stuff?
0:55.2	I think of it as a way we can all learn about how control groups work and how mind control
1:08.2	works and how all you have to do is look at our country and the divisiveness and see
1:13.6	how people can control other people's thinking, smart people, seeker people, and the effects
1:20.7	that that has.
1:21.7	And how we are all, a lot of us are in groups that are a little bit culty.
1:25.2	Yeah.
1:26.2	Okay.
	...

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