Meg was raised in the Jehovah’s Witnesses and grew up under intense pressure, surveillance, and emotional control. Her upbringing lead to isolation, fear, and a lack of understanding around autonomy and consent. After experiencing SA in young adulthood, she blamed herself due to purity-based teachings and remained in the relationship out of guilt before ultimately confessing to church elders, where she endured invasive and degrading questioning. She was then disfellowshipped, resulting in total social shunning by her community and much of her family, which deepened her shame, loneliness, and self-destructive coping behaviors. Even after being cut off, during a traumatizing miscarriage, she refused a blood transfusion out of devotion to the Jehovah’s Witness blood doctrine that nearly took her life.though she eventually found support outside the group and began rebuilding her sense of identity and independence. Find and Support Meg IG @megreadsandreads https://www.instagram.com/megreadsandreads/ Relentless Shadows: A Book of Poetry https://amzn.to/4cugWtQ Subscribe to our C2C "CLIPS" Channel! https://www.youtube.com/@CultstoConsciousnessClips Support C2C - Any donations are welcome and appreciated to support the making of this podcast. Find our FULL (uncensored) merch store here! https://cults-to-consciousness-shop.fourthwall.com/en-usd Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cultstoconsciousness Venmo @sheliseann Find us on Social media! Instagram @cultstoconsciousness https://www.instagram.com/cultstoconsciousness Host Instagram @sheliseann https://www.instagram.com/sheliseann/ Co Producer / Host @jonathan.rosales_ https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.rosales_ TikTok @cults.to.consciousness https://www.tiktok.com/@cults.to.consciousness Twitter @cultstocon https://twitter.com/cultstocon Chapter marks 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:15 ChiIdhood & background 00:10:07 The reality of door knocking as a shy teen Jehovah's Witness 00:14:39 How Meg had to conform within her family 00:23:30 College 00:24:23 CW: Suic*de attempt 00:25:43 CW: SA 00:34:48 Confessing s*xual sin 00:43:26 CW: M*scarriage- Bl**d transfusion refusal 00:55:37 Meg avoided telling her therapist she was a JW 01:06:36 What brings Meg joy now 01:14:31 Linda, listen **Disclaimer: Thanks for joining us at Cults to Consciousness. This storytelling podcast is meant to be for entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for medical advice. We may discuss triggering topics and we ask that you make your personal mental health a priority. This podcast provides a platform for guests to share their personal experiences and opinions. The views expressed are solely those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or producers. Any allegations discussed are unverified and represent personal accounts only. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise. The podcast assumes no legal responsibility for statements made by guests.**