When the news broke about the horrific crimes committed by the father of a Sarah Lawrence College student against a number of her roommates (among other victims), the headlines often invoked the term “sex cult,” and that wasn’t inaccurate. Indeed, Lawrence “Larry” Ray had used sex as an element, a tool of destruction, in his years-long campaign to manipulate and abuse innocent people.
Still, there’s something about “sex cult” that conjures up images of a flower-power commune from a bygone era where willing participants followed a philosophy of free love and open relationships. The term feels simplistic, reductive. Kudos, then, to Hulu and director Zach Heinzerling for titling their three-part documentary series “Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence,” and eschewing sensationalism not only in terms of the title, but more important from the work itself.
