I have a problem with the term “cult” because it doesn’t really say anything specific about a movement or a group, except that the person who calls it a cult has a negative opinion of the group.

Most people say “cult” when they see a group of people who passionately believe in something that seems absurd/wrong/too much. The definition of a cult that I see here often, which is the BITE model by Steve Hanson (who seems like a super slimy full of himself guy who ripped his ideas off of a woman, what else is new) is so vague, it can fit anything. It can fit the anti-prostitution/porn movement if you consider how that it ticks all the boxes: behavior control (don’t watch porn), information control (don’t expose yourself to BDSM ideas, libfem values) thought control (don’t get busy fantasizing about choking someone) and emotion control (don’t feel good about porn, don’t feel good about prostitution).

I don’t like the word “cult” because it’s one of those strong words that can meaninglessly be slung in every direction. I think it’s better to actually diagnose the problem by describing the elements of social contagion, of desire for approval, of getting carried away, of resisting critical ideas because they’d shatter a comfortable status quo. If we use a more accurate definition than it’s clear when someone is actually dumbed down and following like a sheep and when someone is thinking critically and trying to see beyond their biases.