Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult by Faith Jones

42 reviews

byashleylamar's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Addiction, Incest, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual harassment

carriemae's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse

erebus53's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This is not a book you want to start into without first being in a good place. It tells the personal story of a child born to a family pivotal to the Children of God, or "The Family"; a cult organisation based on some twisted interpretations of Christian gospel.

There is overt sexual content in the book, and descriptions of children brought up in a sexualised environment, with authoritarian discipline and privations of scarcity and poverty.

I think I would have not understood this quite so well if I had not already read about various social controls and the nature of Domestic Abuse and trauma healing. The descriptions clearly outline the methods that were used to create submissiveness, dependence, and unquestioning loyalty in people whose fundamental rights were being violated regularly.

Honestly the whole concept in such an extreme social context just makes me consider the societal norms and methods of oppression that we have in our daily lives and just normalise.. "that's just how things are".

It's a powerful account, but not really a fun read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Sexual content, Incest, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Violence, Cancer, and Deadnaming

redvelveting's review

dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

I happened to pick this book up for free and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Faith’s detailed and well-articulated recounting of her life with the Family is uncomfortable and very difficult to swallow but also inspiring to see how she gradually comes to terms with the truth and finds her voice. There were definitely moments where I needed to put the book down to process what had just happened. It is not an easy read at all, even less so depending on your own life experiences. But while there were many moments of discomfort, I was desperate to hear that things worked out for her, and hence found myself wanting to read more every night. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

kristinerisch's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

shostakofish's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Incest, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Rape

growintogardens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.25

I've read a lot about cults and personal memoirs from people in cults, but this one didn't really help me understand the cult itself. The descriptions of sexual abuse are so graphic, it's very difficult to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Addiction, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

The descriptions of assault are really graphic. Also, rape/assult continues throughout the book.

hunkydory's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

sara_m_martins's review

This book is far too graphic in the abuse described. 
Plus, the writing style and the form feel weird and dissonant, as the sequence of events goes from pages of different but relatively-mundane life (like building a wall) to extremely abusive and traumatic scenarios. 
Additionally, I think I would rather read a more removed perspective - i.e. a biography instead of an autobiography

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Sexual content, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Drug use

howlinglibraries's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

 The more I think about this book, the more frustrated I feel by it, and while I have a general rule of not giving low ratings to memoirs (because, as many other reviewers have mentioned, it feels odd to "rate" another human being's life experiences!), I have to make an exception for SCN.

First, let me get the obvious bit out of the way: Faith Jones' childhood was a horrifying example of what happens when religion and rape culture mix, and my heart aches for her and every other person who has been through similar experiences. I commend her on the courage it must have taken to write this book in the first place.

Now, I'm going to be brutally honest: this book was a chore to read and I felt like it was never going to end. The writing is dry and sterile, the dialogue is stilted, and at risk of sounding unkind, it felt to me that Jones attempts to control the narrative by sweeping things under the rug that she doesn't want to focus on.

The book starts off with Jones telling us that she has forgiven her parents and has a good relationship with them today, and as the book goes on, that introductory piece feels more and more defensive as her parents are revealed to be incredibly abusive people who never actually seem to understand where they went wrong. Maybe I'm too hung up on one particular incident, but am I actually supposed to feel an inkling of empathy or kindness towards two adults who literally had sex in front of their toddler to "teach" her about "God's love"?

That complaint leads me to my next point, which is that the child sexual abuse in this book is presented in the worst, most graphic way. I have no issue at all with survivors recounting their experiences in matter-of-fact ways, but the way Jones dwells on the most graphic elements of these memories felt unnecessary and I was immensely uncomfortable reading them. I saw one reviewer say that it read less like a memoir and more like an evidence file at these times, and I agree with that sentiment.

Finally, this is the part of the review I'm most hesitant to write because I know Jones is the heroine of this story and we're meant to be amazed by her endurance and courage in the end, but it's very difficult to enjoy reading Jones' narrative when she comes across as such a judgmental, arrogant individual. Examples:

• she clearly others the people of many of the locations she has lived in around the world and has a "savior" complex

• judges her college friends for not being as studious as she is (and therefore "lazy") because they smoked pot

• obsessively fat-shames a former partner (and was so unkind to him while they were together that he admits to developing severe anorexia after their relationship - I'm not saying anyone is to "blame" for another person's mental health struggles, but this is a screaming red flag to me)

• is very judgmental towards individuals struggling with drug addictions

• brags about how "difficult" she was as a student because she was convinced that she deserved only perfect grades

• overall has a very "bootstraps" mentality towards her college years despite the fact that she was given money, cheap or free housing, and a multitude of opportunities by family members, friends of family, etc. throughout the entire process

All of that culminates in the final section of the book, where she talks about healing and overcoming her trauma, which had some really powerful and inspirational moments that would have hit me a lot harder if she hadn't also spent that section defending some elements of the abuse she underwent (such as the "child sex games", which she essentially states weren't abuse because the kids consented to each other's advances, despite the fact that children can not consent, period, and having small children engage in sexual activity isn't less abusive just because they had fun doing it!).

To bring it all around, I'll say it again: I'm glad that Faith Jones got out of this horrific cult and it breaks my heart that she underwent such terrible abuse. I simply think that this book would have benefited tremendously from being written as a biography instead of an autobiography, perhaps with a middle person between Jones herself and the writing to step in from time to time and hold the reins back a little. I don't recommend this book and honestly regret picking it up, if only for the way some of the CSA depictions in the writing triggered me and will unfortunately stick with me for a long time to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Racism, and Racial slurs