Don't Call it a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM

by Sarah Berman

Most of the women who would later testify against Raniere were wrapped up in his projects, his social life, and in some cases his other crimes. And, like the actors who kept silent about abuse by disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, they didn’t want to invite the kind of scandal into their lives that comes with betraying a powerful man.

It has taken the #MeToo movement, and with it a paradigm shift in our understanding of sexual abuse, to even begin to realize that this kind of “complicity” does not disqualify women like Edmondson from seeking justice.