I think it’s more that the post says several times that it’s a cult, so when you say you can sub in any religion, I (and I guess others?) assumed you meant all religions could be considered cults. 

I agree somewhat (I was raised areligious and remain so)... but the extortion that goes on in Scientology puts it in a different class. When you start taking huge sums of people’s money and threatening blackmail if they leave you’re definitely in cult territory.

IFIRC, the write up on this site was very accurate in pointing out that it leaned heavily on the assumption that the women admired him (as opposed to accepting that thought they may have, they were also on the bad end of a power differential), and went too far into the defensive.

It’s the intelligence factor though that squicks me out. On a walk today a friend rode by on a bicycle and my dog, who adores him because he plays with him (dog) anytime he’s (person) at my house, recognized either his scent or his voice and spent the next 10 min actively looking for him. Whining, pulling on the…

Reminds me a bit of those people who say “Haha yeah, I’m an asshole” as if it were some endearing quirk. No, that’s not a thing you get to be. It’s not cool to make other people uncomfortable because “that’s just me!”

Also I clicked through to see the full list and I think that’s him in her profile picture with her??

I also find it fishy that the video is supposed to be him dragging her off of a bed and screaming at her to get out. I don’t know why that would be filmed in the first place, unless they were making a sex tape, and if so how did it get on her computer if presumably they were at his place? Not saying that it couldn’t…

Yeah, it irks me that he doesn’t understand the Bechdel test. Like, at least read the Wikipedia page before putting out an official statement on it. None of his examples are things that get you a pass on the test.

I don’t pray but sending my weird agnostic thoughts your and their way. Glad she’s got people fighting for her.

I’m so sorry for all of that. I recently lost an acquaintance to suicide who was a trans woman. She was really new in her transition and the last time I saw her she was so happy about her new life (she was like, “A guy was staring at my boobs!” like it was the most amazing thing in the world). And then we found out…

Nanette was so cathartic. I’ve watched the last 20 minutes (the angry bit) probably 8 or 9 times now? And I know she says she doesn’t want to spread anger but it felt fantastic to see that anger that I also have expressed so forcibly and articulately. I’m femme, cis, white, not exactly het but definitely on that side…

Ugh. At least they gave the clothes to you though. In high school my friend worked for Express/The Limited (do those even exist any more?) and everyone on staff was required to wear only currently stocked clothes by the brand but they had to buy them out of pocket! They got a pretty big discount but still... she…

I don’t know actually! I’m not super familiar with YA, so I’m just parroting what this one person told me. She did give me a lot of examples but this was years ago, so I can’t recall any of them.

He was certainly an abusive partner, but it also crosses over into his career because to punish her for leaving he used his weight in Hollywood to get her blocked from new work.

But the sentencing bears questioning. If we give people 1 - 6 years for rape, when presumably they are going to be capable of rape for the rest of their lives, but we give people 20 years for this kind of thing where there’s no way they can be fertile for that much longer, things are not being calibrated properly.…

At some point in the last 10-15 years I started calling serious boyfriends or girlfriends “partners” rather than boyfriend or girlfriend because that was kind of the norm in my liberal bubble and I guess I never really thought too much about it. I now live in a more conservative part of the country and it sometimes…

I tried so hard to get my recent ex to understand that women who date men are always facing a power differential in their most intimate relationship, regardless of the quality of character of the man, and that that is a very difficult needle to thread. He would just get defensive and at one point in our last year…

You are a hero! I’m actually pretty tall for a woman at 5"7' but people get extremely pushy at concerts/dance parties and I frequently rely on taller friends to help me from being mowed over. Once a stranger physically lifted me out of a dance section that got crazy rowdy and it was such a relief. Public service, that…

Yeah, I was part of a domestic violence incident while living in Costa Rica (which is generally safer and with a more helpful police force). Luckily I lived with a large group of people. My friend had to go physically get the police because our town had no emergency number; others had to restrain and even fight with…

To add to the ISR Swim recommendation (a very good one!) even just regular swim lessons help a lot. I worked at the YMCA as an instructor throughout my high school years, and I learned to swim there as a kid. The session curriculum is very structured and includes a large amount of safety training. There was one where…