The most efficient/effective way I know to measure if a friend/social group, organization, or subculture you are in functions as a cult is the BITE Model. Here it is:

https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/ 

Cult-like structures are everywhere. You can be in a cult of 2 with an abusive partner. A friend group of 5 can function as a cult. Online spaces can be cult-like & this can leak over to your in-person behavior very easily.

Once your thoughts are in a cult-like structure, it is very hard to restructure them. Even if you leave a cult, you are vulnerable to the next. I experienced this my whole life up until a few years ago. I basically went from an evangelical cult-adjacent childhood -

to an early adolescence/young adulthood mired deeper & deeper in drugs, BDSM, & sexual abuse/the sex industry, then straight to trans/queer community (which included the last one as well.) But this didn’t stop when I became a gender critical trans man.

I fell in with a group of gc trans people which was the same. Then after that went south a bunch of radfems who were only interested in tokenizing my experiences with male violence from trans people & reidentification.

It was at this point I read Combating Cult Minnd Control by Steven Hassan. It was a game changer in understanding both why I get sucked into cults & how they operate. I recommend anyone of any political persuasion reads it.

All of this to say: I am concerned & upset to be watching in real time the word cult be watered down & overused. I am dismayed to watch it go the way of so many other essential words with important meanings: abuse, gaslighting, grooming, fascist, Nazi.

I knew the reversal from trans/queer community would continue to grow in intensity when people who used to be embedded in it started speaking out. Everyone says, I’m not a cult, you’re the cult. These concepts get reduced to insults to hurl smugly online.

It’s also overlooked that the cult like thinking doesn’t go away even if you’re out of any cult. When I first entered detrans community, I met a wonderful woman who’s now a close friend. She was the first time I’d spend time around a feminist who spoke her mind.

I experienced it as harsh, cruel, frightening. I thought she hated me & wanted me gone. I experienced the simple act of her speaking w/o the self-monitoring, apologetic style I’d become entirely used to as an act of control. I felt unable to disagree. I felt overpowered.

Those were my feelings b/c they had been my reality - disagreement for me had meant battering, risk of homelessness, un-personing bc of ideological reasons. But they were not what she wanted or could do to me. I was a cult member in my mind.

Freedom of mind, that’s what we all deserve. I have that now. I speak my mind, I devour alternative viewpoints & debate/address/assimilate them into mine. I chase critical analysis. I allow negative thoughts. I enjoy information.

I understand & accept people will not agree with me but don’t let that push me into silence. Criticize propaganda. Try to relate non-hierarchically. Live with integrity - that’s all I/we can do. Please read the book or look at the website! http://Freedomofmind.com