I crawl into the guts of pain and its glorious group based coercive control the carcass on the beach focused on behavior not beliefs a submission for the inquiry a winter rainbow in a gumboot patterned sustained tactics do I own selfless gradual what is in accordance with targets ability to act or think independently a photo of me in my twenties group based coercive matrix the waiting leaning against the car in the wind tunnel the 6am full moon the fox in the driveway the drive out of town the stopping for coffee the road ahead the talk of a business plan the wet road the wet bark the walk in the fine rain at the top of the mountain 6 domains of coercive control standing on volcanic rock the fluorescent greens of moss the walker’s wet dog the standing by the fire someone left burning the kookaburra on the fence post the full moon in the morning window 200 coercive acts to 40 existing laws linguistic risk is a vulnerable generosity I grew up in a cult 14 recommendations wind under my skin victim to perpetrator continuum addiction to lack of commitment who is doing what to whom closed ideologically framed settings carefully drying my hair saying you are not sure if you are doing it right tenderness creates a universe where right is not the issue with no structural risks the distant crow in the ache in my shoulder on the clothes line of my wet skeleton the blue eggshell sky charter of human rights the cross hatched weave of authorized committing to abandonment reasonable confusion of longing for love necessary how can you be so resolved your DNA still in my bed precautionary your hair on the sink a bin full of tissues to fulfil duty of care ice-cream in the freezer my head on your chest your heartbeat the percussion to the tanpura master we watch on your phone I was able to ask you to play while I wrote my submission I give myself clear and mutual consistency of self
The italicized words are from Beyond Belief, a report responding to coercive cults and high-control groups. The report was submitted to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Impacts into Recruitment Methods and Impacts of Cults and Organised Fringe Groups.
Authors: Patrick McIvor, Clare McIvor, and Renee Spencer, on behalf of Survivors of Coercive Cults and High-Control Groups (SOCCHG) and Stop Religious Coercion Australia (SRCA), with guidance from the Survivor Working Group on Group-Based Coercive Control July 2025