Following Harvey Weinstein’s shock on Hollywood with his numerous sexual assault allegations, Allison Mack, who is most famous for playing Clark Kent’s sidekick ‘Chloe Sullivan’ in the hit show ‘Smallville’, has been accused by the Daily Mail of being second in command of a sex cult with links to the cult NXIVM.
These accusations have come to light where various women have come forward with accusations of being physically branded, starved, held as slaves and apparently blackmailed to provide naked photos of themselves to prevent leaving or speaking out against the cult. Alexandra Stein, who retains a PhD in sociology of cults, tells Rolling Stone: "Once the group has naked photos and other private information, that is a great source of potential coercion, these are fundamentally fear-driven systems and it is very difficult [and] frightening to resist once [you're] fully involved."
The sex cult has been abbreviated to “dominus obsequious sororium,” Latin for “master over the slave women”, which NXIVM’s former publicist, Frank Parlato, says on his website is the name of Keith Raniere’s secret side-sect that apparently aims to “empower women.” Funny that. I don’t see Oprah Winfrey or Beyoncé rushing to join a sex cult to starve themselves and being held as slaves to promote female empowerment, do you? It is
further alleged that the female members of NXIVM and its side-sect DOS are encouraged to have sex with Raniere, beaten with paddles if they do not recruit more ‘slaves’ and are reportedly forced to live on diets of 500-800 calories a day.
Alexandra Stein, further states to Rolling Stone that NXIVM does qualify as a cult through her 5-point definition, which disregards the consistent denial of the leaders of NXIVM to the Times Union. The 5-point definition is as follows:
It has an authoritarian leader
“Steeply hierarchal” in format
Bears a “total, absolute ideology”
Uses coercive persuasion and brainwashing to isolate members from family
Exploits followers while showing “potential for violence”
Allison Mack’s involvement within this ‘sorority’ still remains unclear, but it is reported that she is in charge of recruiting female members for the group, with Frank Parlato stating again on his website that “Miss Mack has proven capable in the recruitment department replacing many aging harem members with younger, more nubile women.”
Physical evidence is still yet to be offered to back up the claims of whether Allison is as involved as her accusers say she is, but as we’ve learnt from the Harvey Weinstein effect, once one person starts talking, the rest do too and the evidence is as quick to follow as the given allegations.
