Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers

Celibate sister or devoted Hindu wife; domineering, sexually expressive lover or veiled Nubian bride in polygamy; or perhaps an asexual shaman. Such are the various roles available to women in today's new religious movements.

Moon Sisters is one of the first books to delve into feminine conversion or opportunities for leadership that women have in these contemporary communal or millenarian groups.

Working almost exclusively from interviews and first-hand data, Susan Palmer focuses on the following seven groups:

Institute for the Development of the Harmonious Human Being

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Rajneesh Movement

Unification Church

Institute of Applied Metaphysics

Northeast Kingdom Community Church

Raelian Movement

She questions why women join such groups, shows what innovative roles are afforded those women who choose to become members, and explains the groups' high rate of defection.