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In Reply to: Re: The family in other countries posted by Concerned on August 14, 2005 at 02:32:44:
"I understand that the Family still preaches free sex among adult members. Do most people know that when they join? Or do they wait until they are throughly brainwashed to tell them?"
For the most part, I would say new disciples are not aware of the free sex among adult members when they join. "Babes" are given a very mild version of Family doctrines (the sex doctrines fall under "Law of Love") and gradually brought into the tangled web of thinking errors. If you read the presentation of Law of Love on TFI's official website, you don't automatically come to any conclusions about how it might apply to sexual mores.
When I last looked at TFI statistics for new members who join as adult disciples, it is very low--something like 50-60 per year. "Converts" are many, "disciples" are very few.
There are more females than males in the second generation of adults who have remained in TFI. These young women are either mating with older men or with their peers. However, I would say (at the risk of someone offending someone with my lack of political correctness) that young Family women tend to present themselves to outsiders as very attractive and sexy. You need only view pics on an SG website (you'll find links at MO), and you'll see that the young women don't exactly emulate the modesty of plain people or what one typically thinks of as a Christian missionary in the field.
I would say that young Family women will seem somewhat flirtateous when they are engaged in a public relations activity like witnessing. Even without overtly engaging in seduction or "sacred" prostitution, this is the culture of TFI. Where the young men are concerned, I personally think some of them send out confusing & mixed messages with regard to the nonverbal cues of sexual innuendo. (Just my opinion, but also an observation shared by a few young women who grew up in the group.)
I tend to believe that the very limited number of young adult disciples who join the group are covertly seduced. If you read up on "love bombing," you'll get an idea of how it works. By the time the new disciple becomes aware of Law of Love's fullest interpretation, it's just another small step in a long process of seduction.
