In May 1997, Philip Zimbardo published a piece for the American Psychological Association titled "What Messages Are Behind Today's Cults?" The practices of The Red Pill line up with Zimbardo's findings. A former Red Pill member even wrote an entry in the RedPillDetox group about how he believed he had been brainwashed into joining a cult when he was a part of the group. Also, the fact that a RedPillDetox exists for ex-members to help each other deprogram their beliefs doesn't bode well for the MRA's existence. While there isn't a quantitative list of what defines a cult, experts in psychology agree on a few telltale signs. Perhaps this is why Scientology views psychiatry as the enemy and bringer of death.

And guess what? Much like Scientology, The Red Pill fits the description of a cult in a disturbing way. Cults are not only harmful to society but for its members as well. In fact, it may be arguably more harmful to its members than for the friends and family they've isolated themselves from. The Red Pill's existence is like a studded butt plug that everyone has to share. So how exactly is it a cult? Well ...

The Red Pill is similar, but instead of self-actualization, their goals revolve around boner distribution. Said ExRedPill on his experience, "I was joining a cool f*****g group of cool f*****g guys who were going to teach me how to do cool f*****g things like getting laid." You can imagine how this might be appealing to someone that hasn't had much luck with women in the past. The Red Pill, like Scientology, preys on the insecurities of people to recruit new members into their cult.

What separates The Red Pill and Scientology from any another community group looking to grow its members? According to Zimbardo, "They become 'cults' when they are seen as deceptive, defective, dangerous, or as opposing basic values of their society." Which brings me to ...

Compare that to Merriam-Webster's definition: "The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes." Clearly, there's a disconnect here that aims to reprogram the way their members see the world.

The Red Pill's name is derived from a Matrix analogy about truth. In the movie The Matrix, Laurence Fishburne is all like, "Bro, if you take the blue pill, you'll stay ignorant. But if you take the red pill, I'll show you how to dodge bullets in cool trench coats with your mind." Or something like that. The analogy is rooted in the idea of reprogramming its members to see the truth. Everything before joining Red Pill is referred to as "blue pill," and their new members attest to a sense of being "reborn" the same way that religious cult victims do.

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Here's a quote from a Red Pill member describing how he felt when he first started changing his ways to fit into the group: "This, I find, is probably the most useful tool for getting rid of bluepill during the early transitional phrases. My friend and I would say this to each other regularly whenever we had a oneitis, and it stung at first but it was like being reborn." By the way, "oneitis" is a term that means liking someone as if they are "the one" despite a lack of reciprocation.

Scientology does this kind of reprogramming with its members as well. They teach their members that psychology is a global conspiracy of murder and that our bodies contain evil aliens that are the cause of all physical and mental illness. Another thing Scientology does that The Red Pill incorporates is ...

In The Red Pill's case, the secret is that all women have lizard brains and their pussies can be yours with a few simple tricks. Like, not taking no for an answer. And that's not an exaggeration. In their glossary, they explicitly state, "Contrary to feminist sloganeering, no doesn't always mean no. Often times 'no' simply means 'not yet'."

According to The Red Pill Theory, women are not rational. They can't be because they are children. That's their words, not mine. The Red Pill followers believe that women stop maturing intellectually around the teenage years, and they will lie about what they want because, much like children, they don't truly know what they want. Therefore, you must never take no for an answer.

In their words, "Women are children. They seek out boundaries. They require the men in their lives to define and enforce these boundaries. And just like children, if women are not given boundaries, they will occupy the space they are given and become terrible, unruly brats."

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So their argument is that women don't set boundaries, even though saying "no" when they don't want to have sex is a pretty solid boundary. To The Red Pill, however, a woman saying "no" to sex is merely an example of LMR. LMR, for the uninitiated, stands for "last minute resistance." In their minds, when a woman says she's on her period she is actually saying, "I'm putting up LMR because I'm still not 100 percent sure if I should f**k you." That's a translation from a list of common "s**t tests" women use to test the sexual value of a man, according to The Red Pill.

The secret to getting a woman to sleep with you after she tells you she's on her period is to, "Say nothing, continue to escalate, and try again." Though in reality, she could just be on her period. Or maybe she doesn't want to have sex. Either of those would be perfectly fine and acceptable to anyone who isn't a complete goddamn psychopath or an outright rapist. Which brings me to the next point ...

Scientology has a plethora of vocabulary used between members that outsiders wouldn't understand. They have published multiple dictionaries defining terms for their members to decipher their texts. Some examples of this are saying "ARC Break" to refer to feelings of sadness or anger. For example, "I haven't seen you out lately, did you have an ARC Break?" Which admittedly sounds pretty cool -- like a Final Fantasy finishing move. Another more widely known term is "Suppressive Person" (or "SP") which is used to describe people that may be harmful to the intentions of the church. If a family member is deemed "SP" by the church they are ousted and all communication will be cut off entirely. These terms make it harder to question the church's actions when they are executed because they effectively brainwash members into following blindly, like Chris Brown fans.

On a similar note, according to Zimbardo, cults also reduce critical thinking and independent free will through, "Unquestioning obedience to the leader and following arbitrary rules and regulations." The Red Pill has a lot of rules. Rules like "Never say I Love you First," "Ignore her beauty," and "Never be afraid to lose her." These are all entries from the "16 Commandments Of Poon," an official chapter in their handbook. A "handbook" that is 426 pages long.

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So what happens when logical humans finally catch on and want to get the hell out? Well, that's another can of worms, because ...

You don't have to look far to find examples of guys who ruined their relationships after joining Red Pill.

Said RedPillDetox after leaving the group:

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Most cult leaders seek money or power. But if members aren't paying any money to participate, what are leaders gaining out of this? Scientology doesn't charge its members to leave either, but by the time you're ready to leave, you've already invested so much money you feel stupid for leaving -- like it was all for nothing.

The Red Pill may claim to have no financial goals as a group, but if you dig a little deeper, you'll see that there are indeed people making money from it. In the official rules, there's a line that states, "Long-standing members of the community MAY sell goods or services, allow others to voluntarily 'tip', link to advertising-support websites, etc. ... but any money must be received in exchange for value, not requested out of need."

In order to get status as a "long-standing member," you have to get endorsements from the founders. There's a hierarchy system where you can get endorsed, but only the true original founders can reach the highest level. Which sounds a whole lot like "power."

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Many of those original founders have sold books and write their own blogs such as The Manosphere and Return Of Kings. There are enough books to fill a bookshelf. More specifically, one user's compilation of necessary reading includes 74 different titles, because being long-winded and boring is evidently a virtue. This is hauntingly similar to Scientology's origins in L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novels. Both of these organizations have an expansive library of official books its members are encouraged to buy and read.

More alarmingly, documentaries such as Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath and Going Clear have suggested that the church will harass any ex-members who leave, especially if they publicly denounce their time in the organization.

Mike Rinder, the former head of Scientology's Office Of Special Affairs, recounts in Leah Remini's documentary how church members stalked him, stole his trash, and bought neighboring houses in order to survey him after he left. Because "sociopath" isn't really a negative term for these people. This kind of behavior is almost certainly to set an example for its current members. The message is, "Don't leave ... or else."

So, before you get into an online argument with an MRA who's trying to tell you why feminism is an evil tactic of oppression, remember that that person is probably in a cult and won't respond to standard reason. In fact, they may be more susceptible to harm than you are, since they're under cultic mind control. It's quite likely that you are in no way equipped to handle that.

Much like Scientology, it's an uphill battle to rescue members and deprogram them from the cult. But calling it out for what it is might be the first step to keeping others from falling victim to their recruiting. And if you're susceptible to cultic brainwashing, maybe reconsider before basing your beliefs around a science fiction book or movie, no matter how cool you think you look in a trenchcoat.

It's Spring Break! You know what that means! Hot coeds getting loose on the beaches of Cancun and becoming imperiled in all classic beach slasher ways: Man-eating shark, school of piranhas, James Franco with dreadlocks. There are so many films about vacations gone wrong, it's a chore to wonder if there's even such a thing as a movie vacation gone right. Amity Island and Camp Crystal Lake are out. So what does that leave? The ship from Wall-E? Hawaii with the Brady Bunch? A road trip with famous curmudgeon Chevy Chase? On this month's live podcast Jack O'Brien and the Cracked staff are joined by some special guest comedians to figure out what would be the best vacation to take in a fictional universe.

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For more check out 5 Uncomfortable Truths Behind the Men's Rights Movement and 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women: Update.

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