Despite all the testimony from alleged victims in documentaries about NXIVM and a six-week criminal trial, not a single woman has claimed they were actually threatened with the release of collateral.

The role society has cast for us is either that of hapless, unwitting victims who need to be saved from our own choices OR we are seen by the general public as "brainwashed" followers who can't think for ourselves and who are complicit in heinous crimes. Neither is accurate.

There is a big problem in today’s society. We have become a culture that celebrates and rewards victims without question. The victim stance has become a powerful way to gain sympathy and attention, sometimes even to avoid accountability.