In light of our new exhibit Sex in the Third Reich, I decided to take a look at the nature of how leaders – cult and dictator alike – use sex to capture the minds, bodies and souls of their followers.
If you want to control someone, aim straight between their legs. Sure, other methods of vampirizing the human soul can be effective – things such as threats, autosuggestion, peer pressure, isolation, financial exploitation, love bombing, and strict control of one’s space and time – and these aspects are all found in cult settings – but nothing cuts deeper than sex. Socially constructed concepts such as “individuality” and “social identity” are nothing more than learned behaviors that are easily broken down and rebuilt with a handful of psychological tricks.
Sex reaches all the way to the core of one’s being, right down to the last DNA strand. There’s a good reason why covert – intelligence operations focus so strongly on sexual blackmail. Of your deepest secrets, how many are sexual? All of them? Most of them, no doubt. It’s hard to imagine anything more intrusive than dictating what someone does with their genitals. When a person hands over their sex drive to you, there’s no need to worry about their car keys and bank account. They’re already yours.
Be honest: Neither you nor I know why we’re here. Religion, as I see it, has typically existed primarily as a social – control mechanism designed to sublimate the libido. Most religions/cults/group think gatherings promise you heaven and earth, because, truly, what could be better in the here-and-now than sex? It is nearly impossible to find a religion/cult/group think gathering that is silent on sexual matters.
Most people search desperately for life’s meaning because it terrifies them to think that it has none. They need answers. They need direction. Many people – the majority – want to be told how to think and act. They wouldn’t have it any other way. They’ve been brought up to crave this level of control. Thinking critically about how group dynamics clouds our ability to be discerning is not something we are taught – quite the contrary – and the easily influenced will eagerly swallow the nearest cosmic sucking treat peddled by the most transparently fraudulent con man in the brightest clown suit on the block.
The distinction between a “cult” and a “religion” is purely semantic. Perhaps this is the major distinction: Cults tend to be led by charismatic megalomaniacal sociopaths who are still alive, while religions were founded by charismatic megalomaniacal sociopaths who died a long time ago.
Sex is merely one wrench in the cult leader’s toolbox, but it is the most important one. The game lies in altering the follower’s sexuality until it is no longer their own. It can head either way, as the Third Reich demonstrated: You can either amplify their sex drive or suppress it, but it’s important not to leave it untouched. It’s either wild promiscuity or stern celibacy, either absolute repression or full-bore hedonism. From the voluntary castration of Heaven’s Gate, to the Children of God’s eager encouragement of pedophilic incest, New Age “Sex Guru’s” to Burning Man, sex is used to demolish personal identity in favor of the hive mentality. No where was this more prevalent than in Nazi Germany.
Educate yourself. Think critically. Reject this insidious method of control.
