Since cults don’t fill out census forms, these sorts of statistics are at best an educated guess. There are experts who estimate that up to 70% of cult members are female. Dr. Lalich says it’s at least over half. She also says that certain recruitment techniques may be designed to appeal more directly to women: “The modern cult sales pitch really taps into our desire to better ourselves: to improve our careers, to be a better speaker, to look prettier, to look thinner. I think women today are still very vulnerable to those appeals.” And women may also be more vulnerable to certain abusive power dynamics. Lalich is the author a book called Take Back Your Life: Recovering From Cults and Abusive Relationships. The reason the same book can cover both scenarios is because cultic control techniques mirror the tactics and power dynamics in abusive domestic relationships: the giving and rescinding of love and affection, the demeaning, the isolating from friends and family, and the use of sex as a control instrument.