This Scary, Cultish Dating Trend Has Gone Mainstream

Yes, sometimes “too good to be true” is a very real thing.

- Taylor Andrews & Lauren L'amie

Let’s say you met someone and they seem great. Like, everything-you’ve-been manifesting-for-months great. Gives-you-more compliments-than-you get-in-the-bar-bathroom line great

Makes plans-to-bring you-to-a-friend’s-wedding-five-months great. Never-leaves-you-on-read great. And it has only been a week! But before you start imagining sending out your own Save the Date, we have some news: all this greatness may be part of a manipulation strategy used by...actual cults. It is called love bombing, and it is a form of emotional abuse that happens when someone showers a partner with excessive affection in an attempt to control them.

The term was allegedly first coined by members of the Unification Church of the United States, a famous cult known as the Moonies. They love-bombed people to encourage them to join their fellowship. Experts say other famous cults like America’s NXIVM used a similar method to manufacture feelings of intense unity and loyalty in new recruits. And now it is possible that this type of behaviour has infiltrated your dating apps.