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In Taken No More, law professor and cult expert Robin Boyle-Laisure, J.D., discusses commonalities between cults and human trafficking. In the mix, she also considers intimate partner violence and child sexual abuse. Coercive control unites these diverse situations.
The book is subtitled, “Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults.” A good chunk of it is directed toward parents and educators. However, it also seems relevant to professionals who work in mental health, child protection, and the law, as well as casual readers with an interest in these topics.
9 of the book’s main points
- Human trafficking and cults have a lot in common. Leaders in both kinds of enterprises manipulate young people and adults for their own gain.
- Traffickers and cult leaders use deception to recruit their targets. They find out what potential recruits value and exploit it. Most commonly, they provide false offers of financial gain, romance, community, or fame—whatever it takes. Labor traffickers entice their targets by promising desirable working conditions and wages.
- Cult leaders and traffickers groom their new recruits. They build and strengthen interpersonal bonds through gifts, affection, kind words, and welcoming acts. New recruits let down their guard. Then they become entrapped and find it impossible to leave.
- Cult leaders and traffickers shape their targets to accept increasingly difficult conditions. They desensitize recruits to abuse. A sex trafficker posing as a boyfriend might ask his girlfriend to “prove her love” by having sex with his friend. Or a sex trafficker might promise a career in modeling. Cult leaders ask new members to prove their dedication by turning over money and cutting off previous relationships. Labor traffickers make “deals” where the targets end up feeling like they owe money and will risk legal trouble if they try to flee.
- Trafficking is immensely profitable because humans can be sold and re-sold. Gangs that once dealt drugs have discovered that trafficking in (young) women and men can yield them a greater profit over a longer period. Many gangs engage in both drug and human trafficking. Each facilitates the other.
- Cults don’t all look the same. When people think of cults, they often think of recruits with shaved heads and orange robes, chanting and begging on the streets. But, as Boyle-Laisure points out, cults are not all religious. They could be political, terrorist, commercial, or some combination of these.
- Thought reform, brainwashing, and coercive control all refer to the same processes. Traffickers, cult and gang leaders, and domestic and sexual abusers all use similar social and psychological pressures to change the way targets think and act. Targets’ attitudes and self-images change. The unthinkable gradually seems acceptable, inevitable, or even welcome. For instance, a new cult member who was once close to his family might write them off as unacceptable. A newly recruited trafficking victim who was a virgin when she met her “boyfriend” might consent to sex with others, at his request, and convince herself that she is happy to have made him happy. Labor trafficking victims may believe that they “just have to get through” the next couple of months, and then they will receive the wages they are due.
- Young people need developmentally appropriate instruction in how to stay safe. The author provides a chapter on “Raising a Savvy Child” and another on “Protecting Children from Online Predators.” She offers advice to caretakers on how to speak with children and teens about social dangers without paralyzing them with fear. She describes planning for a range of family emergencies. She offers practical suggestions including at what age to get children a cell phone and how to instruct them in its safe use.
- Clinicians working with survivors of cults and trafficking will need to adjust their usual trauma-focused practices. The book includes a full chapter dedicated to “mental health professionals, college administrators, and the community.” Boyle-Laisure draws on experienced psychotherapists for advice on working clinically with survivors of cults and trafficking.
The book is marred by an unusual number of small errors. For instance, Steve Hassan’s Influence Continuum is referred to several times as “the influence of continuum.” The Children of God practice of recruiting members through sexual seduction is referred to repeatedly as “flirty fishy” rather than “flirty fishing.” These are mere quibbles in this heavily researched and interesting book.
