Cult Documentaries and the Women Who Love Them

Hi, it's me, I'm the problem. The streaming service algorithms know me all too well, because they're always offering up documentaries about various cults. I can't seem to stop watching them. Here are a few I've seen in recent months. 

First is Daughters of the Cult on Hulu. It is about the children of Ervil LeBaron, a leader of a polygamist Mormon sect based in Mexico and the southwestern US. There are several such branches of the fundamentalist Mormons (or FLDS) but this one was notable for all the bloodshed. Between Ervil and his followers, there are about 35 murders attributed to this group as he fought to obtain and maintain power. He even murdered some close family members, including a daughter and a brother. I really liked that this series focused on his children and how growing up in this group affected them. It was very moving to see how they have forged much better lives for themselves after escaping the group.

Next is Preaching Evil on Peacock. This one focuses on Naomie Jeffs, one of the wives of now-imprisoned leader of an FLDS group Warren Jeffs. She was with him when he was on the run from the authorities and served as his scribe, documenting his daily life and teachings, which frankly to me seemed like random musings dressed up in King James Bible-like English. The series has several interviews with Naomie, and she defends Warren and says he never sexually abused any underage girls. My impression is that she's still a believer (even though she doesn't dress like FLDS women typically do). I really do wonder why she never faced charges herself. Maybe the authorities thought she was being coerced. I suppose that a lifetime of being trained to mindlessly obey whatever "prophet" was in charge probably does constitute mental coercion and abuse. 

Another Peacock series is Sins of the Amish, which explores the rampant sexual and physical abuse in that community. It features women who were sexually abused by their fathers and brothers and were shunned by the community for speaking out about it. The Amish believe that reporting a crime is a worse sin than the crime itself. They claim that they will deal with crimes internally but of course that just means looking the other way while serial abusers continue molesting children. These closed communities are ripe for abuse because they make it almost impossible to escape by cutting their children off from the outside world. For those who do escape, survival is extremely difficult since they've been denied an education. I really hope this series shines a light on the suffering endured by the women and girls and spurs the authorities into monitoring the Amish and Mennonite communities more closely. 

Finally, I watched Let Us Prey on Max. This one is about the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IBF) church. The series focuses on women who were abused by church leaders and, years later, are now pressing charges against them. It takes great courage to come forward tell the truth about the crimes committed by people who are in positions of power over a community like that. This is the documentary that was probably the most upsetting to me because that church is not very different from the conservative, noninstitutional church of Christ in which I grew up. Unlike the Amish and the Mormons, they don't set up compounds or communities separate from the world at large. They tend to have normal jobs and live side by side with people of other religions. But church dominates their lives, and they have extremely strict gender roles and expect women to be subservient to men, which is what it was like growing up in the COC. One thing that kept the COC from being completely controlling over our lives is that unlike the IBF they did not run schools; we all went to public school like everyone else. I'm really grateful for that, because at least I was able to have friends who weren't in the COC and who offered a different perspective on life. Also, getting a proper secular education was the key to my escape. I would never have gotten out otherwise. 

The sad thing about all these cults and controlling churches is that the story always ends the same way: women and children are abused, often forced to live in squalor and degradation, while the men abusing them are free to do whatever they want. No matter how they dress it up in tradition and religious doctrine, it always comes down to misogyny and men's need to coerce and control women.