This article discusses sexual coercion in general, definitional terms. It does not include graphic detail. If this is a difficult topic for you right now, our Get Help page has vetted crisis and recovery resources, and you’re welcome to skip ahead to those. Naming the pattern Sexual coercion inside a high-control group is rarely an…

Nobody hands over a life’s savings on day one. The path there is almost always a series of individually reasonable-sounding steps — a suggested tithe, a course fee, a “level up” investment — each one small enough to agree to without much resistance. The escalation pattern Organizational psychologist Barry Staw’s classic research on “escalating commitment”…

Financial exploitation inside a coercive group almost never opens with a demand to sign over a house or an inheritance. It opens with something much smaller and much easier to justify — which is exactly what makes it effective. Money as one tactic among several Evan Stark’s coercive control framework, developed originally around intimate partner…