ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses conflicting views concerning the relationship between gender role ambiguities and women's participation in the sexual innovations developing in new religious movements (NRMs), summed up as the "empowerment" versus the "neopatriarchy" school of thought. It explores "gendered" approach to the issue of "cult conversion". The chapter argues that contemporary women find protective, supportive microsocieties in NRMs, which enable them to try out a spectrum of clearly defined roles. By temporarily inhabiting the stylized feminine roles in NRMs and submitting to their leaders' erotic/ascetic ordeals, members appear to undergo a "cocoon work," which in many ways resembles the ritual process found in feminine rites of passage in traditional societies. A striking feature of new religions, when observed over a period of time, is their flexibility in trying out different patterns of authority and gender. This experimentation occurs on two levels: the collective and the individual.
