This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, or mental health advice.

The views and opinions express do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast

and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

Music. anything.

I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames, and this is a little bit culty.

We woke up from a cult, and that journey was captured in the vow on HBO and in my memoir,

scarred.

Now, in this podcast, we break down the shame and secrets that make these experiences so destructive with honest conversations on how seemingly benign groups can cross into

the cult of us, and how to spot and recover from trouble if it happens to you.

Each week, we bring an expert, survivors, and whistleblowers to explore red flags, resilience,

and even share a few laughs because because sometimes you've got to laugh.

Subscribe to our Patreon for early and ad-free listening, some live Q&A and exclusive content at patreon.com slash A Little Bit Culty.

Welcome to Season 8 of A Little Bit Culty.

Seeking down to the depths of the ocean.

Hanging on to win my love.

I let go of all I could leave, but I don't know all I want.

Welcome back to part two with journalist and author Ellen Hewitt, author of Empire of Orgasm.

She's the journalist who put one- secretive world under the national microscope.

Sarah, you're going to do a little unplugged here and read a little excerpt, am I right? Absolutely. I love this metaphor that she writes about in the beginning of the book. She says, as I reported on One Taste, I thought often about the parable of the blind men and the elephant. In it, several blind men each touched different parts of an elephant and confidently describe the animal in contradicting ways. The man grasping the tusk is certain an elephant is rigid with a sharp tip. The man touching the trunk claims the elephant is like a snake, and the man holding his tail believes the elephant is like a rope. The fable captures our tendency to over-extrapolate from our personal experience. To believe we know the whole nature of something we have only experienced just a piece. And I love that metaphor. Why do you think I love that metaphor now? Why do I think you love that? I do love elephants. But I also think, and we actually have a similar, not a metaphor, but we talk about this in our book, too, that lots of people can experience and they can have a good experience and they over extrapolate their experiences. Well, I had a good time. You know, I was a Boy Scout. I didn't get abused. Well, that's really great. We are glad and happy for you that you did not get abused. But there are many people who did. And so similar thing with one taste, lots of happy customers, lots of very unhappy customers, doesn't negate the other, not black or white.

Also, my ability to take in your perspective in yours mind gives us a more robust look at the situation. So what are we going to talk about in part two? And if you haven't listened to part one, please listen to it. Yeah, you know the drill. We get into the psychological tactics, the culty tactics, the red flags.

Trial.

...