Difference between revisions of "Love bombing"
(Breaking up the paragraph and altering the wording a little. The article structure I used is: intro/definition, history, psychological effects, and miscellaneous. Hope you don't mind, Secret Squirrel.) |
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| − | '''Love bombing''' | + | '''Love bombing''' refers to a [[cult]] recruitment tactic, in which the cult will overwhelm potential recruits with "love", giving the feeling that their emotional and social needs will be met by joining the cult. |
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| + | The term originated with the [[Children of God]], and was later adopted by the [[Unification Church]] (aka "Moonies"). The term has passed into general usage to refer other cults which employ similar tactics (although most cults themselves never use the term). | ||
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| + | As many potential cult members come from broken homes or are socially awkward or sexually frustrated, love bombing proved to be effective in giving them a sense of belonging through identification with and subservience to the cult, and conversely, reinforcing their internalized belief that "the world" apart from the cult is a hostile place which the cult is a haven from. | ||
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| + | Within the Children of God, love bombing included [[sexuality|sexual]] free love practices (which they called "flirty fishing", in reference to the [[Bible]] parable of being "fishers of men"). | ||
{{stub}} | {{stub}} | ||
[[Category: Cults]] | [[Category: Cults]] | ||
Revision as of 03:36, 6 March 2008
Love bombing refers to a cult recruitment tactic, in which the cult will overwhelm potential recruits with "love", giving the feeling that their emotional and social needs will be met by joining the cult.
The term originated with the Children of God, and was later adopted by the Unification Church (aka "Moonies"). The term has passed into general usage to refer other cults which employ similar tactics (although most cults themselves never use the term).
As many potential cult members come from broken homes or are socially awkward or sexually frustrated, love bombing proved to be effective in giving them a sense of belonging through identification with and subservience to the cult, and conversely, reinforcing their internalized belief that "the world" apart from the cult is a hostile place which the cult is a haven from.
Within the Children of God, love bombing included sexual free love practices (which they called "flirty fishing", in reference to the Bible parable of being "fishers of men").
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