The Ties That Bind: Ariel Anderssen on Cults to Kink

A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

True Crime, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re bringing you a spicy one today on ALBC! Our guest is Ariel Anderssen, a professional BDSM model and sex-positive author. Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, Ariel grew up in a world where sexuality was strictly controlled, desire was equated with sin, and the end of the world was always just around the corner. But after leaving the faith, she embarked on a journey of self-discovery that led her to embrace kink, submission, and sexual liberation.

In this episode, Ariel shares what it was like to grow up in a high-control religious group that dictated every aspect of her life, from what she could wear to how she could think. She opens up about the moment she realized she wasn’t alone in her desires, the misconceptions people have about BDSM, and the surprising parallels between religious fundamentalism and the power dynamics in kink. We also get into feminism, consent, and the ongoing cultural battle over who gets to decide what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to sex.

Today’s episode gets a bit steamy, so consider yourself warned.

If you want to learn more about Ariel’s story, check out her memoir Playing to Lose: How a Jehovah’s Witness Became a Submissive BDSM Model.
You can also find her on X: @ArielAnderssen or at www.arielanderssenauthor.com.

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Writer & Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Transcript

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0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:29.7	This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical,
0:34.0	medical, or mental health advice. The views and opinions express do not necessarily reflect
0:37.8	the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion
0:41.7	group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything. I'm Sarah Edmondson.
0:56.0	And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames.
0:57.9	And this is A Little Bit Calti.
1:00.7	Cults are commonplace now.
1:02.1	From fandums to fads, we're examining them all.
1:04.5	We look at what happens when things that seem like a great thing at first go bad.
1:08.9	Every week we chat with survivors, experts, and whistleblowers
1:12.0	for real culty stories told directly by the people who lived through them, because we want
1:16.7	you to learn a few things that we've had to learn the hard way. For example, if you think you're
1:21.3	too smart to get sucked into something culty, you might be prime recruitment material, and who
1:25.7	knows, you could already be in a cult.
1:28.2	If you're not aware of your programming, you're probably being programmed.
1:31.4	So keep listening to find out.
1:33.2	We'll talk about all sorts of topics on the show, but be aware.
	...

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