Let me share my experience of SGI in New Zealand – I would be interested if ex-members in other countries have had similar experiences.

Although I was only with the sect for about 6 months, it was a harrowing experience - to say the least. Not long before becoming a regular, I was befriended by an Asian women/member. She seemed OK; that is, fairly normal and mentally intact but nothing could have been further from the truth… You see, I had just come out of a broken marriage. So I was quite vulnerable and it was not long before I started thinking/believing that the power of chanting in front of the “gohonzon” had brought me true love. Of course, this was not the case but when one is emotionally vulnerable, lonely and confused, one is also easily manipulated and taken for VERY big rides. Over the next 2 or 3 months, she pushed and pulled me every which way but loose, while at the same time encouraging me to get my ‘very own gohonzon’ and hence, becoming a fully fledged member. In short, I got one and once having done so, she wasted no time in ditching me! No explanation... nothing… Very nasty! In retrospect, I guess her job of enticing me into the organisation was done. However, she probably did not count on me walking right back out again and sending that ridiculous little box and scroll back to where it belonged – the dump!

Looking back, I think the females in this group, either consciously or unconsciously, flirt with new members in an attempt to draw them into the organisation. I saw it many times and the nasty piece of cake that I had the misfortune of meeting was no exception. Most SGI women seem exceptionally attractive – maybe this is just a coincidence or perhaps it is just a New Zealand phenomenon. I do not really know. Also, underneath their good looks and buoyant personalities, they seem to be quite anti-male – to the extent that it seems to be a “new girls” club rather than an “old boy’s club”, as is the case in many other religious organisations. Indeed, I would go so far as saying that SGI New Zealand seems to be more akin to a new feminist movement rather than a sect per se. The groups that I attended in New Zealand were overun by overly assertive young women, many of whom are openly gay and bisexual. Is this the case in other counties? Please enlighten me ex-members.

K1W1, (and anyone else who is interested in this topic), there is a 239 page thread on SGI in the "Former Cult Members and Affected Families" Forum.

[forum.culteducation.com]

I've practiced with SGI-USA, and I haven't seen anti-male attitudes in the organization as a whole. Individual women, maybe, but not the overall organization.

I have seen many SGI members who will pretend to be your friend, and be super-friendly until you join. Of course, once you've joined, they have no interest in you. It's all about numbers, getting lots of shakabukus (new converts). Some SGI members feel that almost anything is okay if it gets someone to join...lying about the practice and the organization, faking interest in someone.

In my area, we did have many openly gay members. Many of them expressed that they wanted a religion, a spiritual tradition, but felt excluded and condemned by the Christian religions that they'd grown up in. SGI, in the past, pressured gays to marry, or chant to become heterosexual. I think that SGI leaders finally woke up and realized that they were alienating potential members who would be loyal to SGI, and give lots of time and money to it. So now gays are welcomed with open arms.

Noticed some manipulative sexual behavior around SGI recruiting.

But it may not have come from SGI, but SGI just served as a "green light" for certain people to act-out without guilt?
The explanation seemed to be, that anything goes to recruit new members to SGI, as then that person gets a better Karma and more Goodies. So by recruiting you into SGI, they seem to believe they are getting a Karma commission.
Sorta like Amway, but without the products!

But at the same time, other SGI did not display that sexualized behavior.
It does seem perhaps that the SGI system can serve as a green-light, for certain people to act-out without restraint, as the ends justifies the means in their minds.
Many SGI people are very very intenses and persistent in trying to sell you into SGI, very much like an Amway MLM, they never stop trying.

Again, the main SGI thread is here, better to post there for reference. [forum.culteducation.com]

In eighteen years with SGI, I never heard any leader recommend that female SGI members flirt with, or have sex with guys in order to convert them to SGI.

We were taught that we needed to recruit other people to be members of SGI, but we were never taught any specifics of how we should go about converting them. As someone, maybe Anticult, said maybe this was a deliberate choice on SGI's part. If we had been too smooth, or scripted -- it might have looked too suspicious to potential converts.

Our leaders gave us goals -- a certain number of people a group was to convert during our "shakabuku campaigns" -- and there would be hell to pay if our group did not make that number. Leaders would get chewed out by the leaders above them, who would in turn get chewed out by their leaders.

We were told that converting others to this Buddhism was the only way we could change our own karma. I don't know, K1W1, how many SGI meetings you attended, but surely, you heard "experiences"? Members were expected to "give experiences" at meetings -- this is where you talk about your problem and what you did to solve it, using Buddhism. We were told that we could solve any problem, attain any goal, if we just chanted a lot, supported SGI, and did shakabuku. Oh, we were told that this was also good for the people we shakabuku'ed (converted). As SGI members they could do the same --- chant a lot, shakabuku others and achieve what they wanted.

So we did anything and everything to make potential converts like us and want to join SGI -- put on festivals and shows, gave them rides to meetings, be super-friendly, take care of their kids so that they can go to a meeting, tell them, "Sure, you can still be a Christian and chant!" Of course, all the love stopped once you actually joined, and if you were Christian, you were strongly pressured to give up those beliefs and practices.

I never knew anyone who actually slept with their potential converts. (at least, nobody ever admitted to doing so) And yet it doesn't surprise me that someone did it. That mentality was just crammed down our throats: Do whatever you have to do to get converts; the end (getting them in SGI) justifies the means. If you bend the truth a bit to get someone to join, so what? Converting people is a good cause for their lives AND yours.

There's a Buddhist parable about a father who wants to get his children out of a burning house. The children don't respond when he calls that the house is on fire -- so he tells them that he has a cart or toys, something for them to play with -- and they run outside and save themselves. SGI says that getting people to escape the burning house -- their previous beliefs and joining SGI -- is like that parable. Yes, the father lied -- but it was all right, even good, because it saved the kids. This is SGI's rationale for playing fast and loose with the truth. How can this not affect members?

Lord, I cannot believe that I bought into this nonsense for so many years!

Make sure that makes it into the other thread! That explains it.
People have their SGI recruitment goals and pressure to meet them.
And a certain amount of people will use sexuality to achieve their objective, while others won't.

Flirty fishing works.
So some people use that sexual flirting to get others to do what they want, officially enrol in the SGI.

Then that SGI person believes they get Karma points, plus praise from their SGI leader.
That is what goes on.
Pressure to achieve, and some will use sexuality to do that.