Once people lose their active thinking, they get bogged down, lacking a holistic view, and can easily be led by the nose. In recent years, many women have been victimised by many organisations that operate under the banner of self-improvement for women. Why are so many upper-class women willingly involved in this vortex?
If you ask what is more magical than a drama?
It would have to be real life. In the US, there was a mysterious cult called Nxivm, whose members were either wealthy or rich, either elite or entertainment stars, a proper aristocracy, but they were cheated out of their money and forced into “sex slavery”. …… At the end of last month, the The HBO documentary “The Vow” is a nine-episode look at the twisted growth, growth and sudden death of the American cult Nxivm in North American high society.
The documentary details how the cult captured women, conned them out of their wealth and imposed mind control. It is chilling and terrifying to watch.
In 1998, American Keith Raniere founded the company Nxivm in New York. In the name of “removing mental and emotional barriers for women and promoting better self-actualisation”, the company attracted a large number of girls who could become members by paying only US$5,000. It must be said that Raniere is very good at packaging himself.
He is the most intelligent person in the world, can communicate fluently at the age of one, taught himself high school maths in 19 hours at the age of 12, has earned several university degrees, and has many other special skills. It’s almost as if he’s the perfect male protagonist in the novel. Raniere is also a self-proclaimed “master of human psychodynamics” who can heal inner emotional wounds and help discover a better version of himself. Although a session is very expensive, at US$3,400 (about R20,000), a steady stream of students have signed up. There were some who listened to it and decided it was too much and dropped out in time. But there were others some of whom were completely brainwashed after listening to his chicken soup course. These participants even left their families and friends, quit their jobs and moved to the Albany area where Nxivm is located, just so they could fit in more deeply and well and be successful.
Relying on its strong lucrative ability, Nxivm recruited over 17,000 members from 1998 to 2017, with operational centres in the US, Canada and Mexico. The most incredible thing is that many of the members in it are prominent socialites, such as Ana, daughter of former Mexican President Quesada, the first African-American businesswoman worth over $1 billion, an official of the US Department of Public Health Commission, and the Clare sisters, heirs to the Schloss Group …… In particular, the Clare sisters were so loyal that they donated over $150 million to establish a foundation that serves as Nxivm’s largest financial source. The sisters have also taken each other to court against media and individuals who questioned the Nxivm organisation and even fought for them.
But slowly, some people began to wake up and quit the organisation one by one. Only some were afraid to reveal the course due to confidentiality agreements, while others took the risk of handing over the manual to Rick Ross, a renowned American anti-cult expert, who, after investigation, concluded that Nxivm was a brainwashing cult. Then in 2003, rumours of Nxivm being a brainwashing organisation grew and many media outlets began investigating the company. The president of the Schigeland Group, the father of the Clare sisters, said in an interview that he felt very uneasy about the sisters joining the organisation and that his daughters were putting a lot of money into the organisation as an emotional and financial investment, very much like a cult.
Unexpectedly, Nxivm sued Rick Ross and the person who leaked the manual back, accusing them of infringing Nxivm’s copyright and violating the original confidentiality agreement. Although Nxivm’s complaint was dismissed, the matter was left unresolved. After this series of events, Nxivm became a much more low-profile company on the surface. In reality, it has been secretly expanding and has even set up a series of sub-organisations, such as the World Federation of Moral Foundations and DOS, a private club that claims to promote female empowerment.
This DOS organisation is, quite simply, hell on earth. Here, all recruits are women and the real aim is not to promote female power, but to find sexual partners. The full name of the DOS is actually Dominus Obsequious Sororium, which means “Master of Submissive Female Partners”, and is a secret group where Raniere satisfies his own personal desires. Here there were only “masters” and “slaves” of different classes of women. A “slave” can recruit new slaves and be promoted to a certain level of “master”. The “slave” is not only subservient to her “master” but also to everyone above her “master”, including unconditional “sexual services”. The “slaves” are not only subservient to their “masters” but also to all those above them, including unconditional “sexual services”. The organisation is full of feudalism, where a man can have many wives and a woman can only be loyal to one.
It was easy to get into DOS, but very difficult to escape. After becoming a full member of DOS, they are asked to provide some private information about themselves to ensure their loyalty. Usually they are asked to take nude photos or videos of themselves, their bank account passwords, and any hidden “scandals” they may have. The organisation then exploits and blackmails them. The group is also known as the “Nxivm”.
After joining the organisation, each female member is also branded, and they first take the “oath”: “Grant me the brand, it is my honour”. They are then branded with a hot seal on their intimate body with the symbol ‘KR’, the initials of Keith Raniere.” The branding process is very painful, as there is no anaesthetic, and the pain is so intense that it is comparable to an inferno. But it was only the beginning of a nightmare.
Once inducted, members were asked to act as Raniere’s “personal assistant”. Their so-called “job” was to take care of Raniere’s daily meals, his daily routine and to put him to bed. At a time, Raniere would select 15 to 20 sex slaves to work in regular shifts, and they were required not to have sex with anyone else in order to keep their bodies “pure”, the youngest of whom was 12 years old.
As Raniere prefers extremely thin women, the members’ diet is strictly controlled and they are only allowed to eat low-calorie food, and some are required to diet or not eat so that they can be thin enough to meet their perverted aesthetic requirements. Raniere also came up with various ways to brainwash his followers in order to get them to believe in him. During training, members were asked to “clock in” to greet their master in the morning and evening. If any of the members did not comply, they were forced to wear imitation cow udders in class, and they were constantly verbally humiliated and even put in cages. They were subjected to all kinds of inhuman torture, being forced to hit trees, drink dirty water, bathe in cold water during their physiological period, go and stand naked outside the house for an hour in the early hours of the morning …… and the list goes on and on. Some people couldn’t take it and left suicide notes and disappeared after the class and are still alive or dead. Some were developed into lovers and co-conspirators and eventually became senior members of the cult, sucking others in.
For example, Allison Mack, the actress who starred in the Superman prequel.
She has tried several times to bring in actresses from the entertainment industry, including Kristin Kreuk, another actress from the Superman prequels, and Nicki Clyne, the actress from Battlestar Galactica. Kristin Kreuk, by her own admission, was once in the church in 2005, but has quit in 2012. Not content with pulling people offline, Alison also once pulled Emma Watson and Kelly Clarkson into the church on her ins, but fortunately neither one paid any attention to her.
But I have to say, Raniere’s brainwashing skills are really very impressive. The first time I saw her, I was able to get a good look at her. One of the senior members of DOS escaped because she couldn’t stand Raniere’s sexual abuse. This woman, Kristen, had a daughter with Raniere. Raniere brainwashed that she was the Chosen One so she could have children for herself. Others were worse off, with many young girls being forced to have abortions when they became pregnant, with Raniere cajoling his victims by claiming that “abortion is part of the daily training of Olympic athletes”.
When Kristen escaped, she exposed Raniere and the cult to the media.
But instead of drawing attention to her accusations, she was mobbed by powerful people in the Nxivm group because she could not produce any evidence. It wasn’t until 2017 that Canadian actress Sarah Edmondson escaped with her life and provided the media with photos of the branding on her body that the story blew up.
The American community began to take notice of the story and Sarah authorised a television documentary, which became a major lead in the FBI’s search. in March 2018, the FBI, having gathered enough evidence, formally charged and arrested Raniere on charges of organised sex trafficking, sexual coercion and forced sexual labour. Despite his vain attempts to escape, Raniere was arrested and jailed in Mexico. But Raniere repeatedly insisted that he was innocent, “I think I am innocent …… in fact I am not remorseful for these crimes because I do not think I committed them”. Fortunately, the law is just. After a lengthy judicial trial, on 27 October 2020, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York sentenced Raniere in his case, convicting the defendant on multiple counts, including seven felony counts of racketeering, wire fraud, sex trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and identity theft. He faces a lengthy sentence of up to 120 years.
The case of the American cult sex slavery group, which has been making a lot of noise, has now officially come to an end. But the damage done to the victims is irreparable. Some victims still can’t shake the pain caused by Raniere: “I still have his voice echoing in my head …… He stole my youth and he used my ignorance to do whatever he wanted.” This banner of female self-improvement is actually doing a heinous job. Not only ordinary women, but also many upper class people have been duped along with them, and are even complicit in the cult’s mind control, which, it must be said, is horrific. Alison also stated after her arrest, “I had thought that Ranil was here to help people, I was wrong.”
Once a person loses the ability to think proactively, they get stuck in a rut, lacking a holistic view, and can easily be led by the nose. In recent years, many organisations under the banner of self-improvement for women have victimised many women. Remember that there is no pie in the sky for nothing. In the face of temptation, one must keep one’s eyes open to avoid tragedy.
