Timothy Archibald / OneTaste
Nicole Daedone, center, with “orgasmic meditation” practitioners. The founder of OneTaste was sentenced to 9 years in prison
The practice promoted by OneTaste combined spirituality, mindfulness and sexuality. It apparently included psychological, emotional and financial coercion to force vulnerable women into sexual acts with the company’s clients and investors, which landed Nicole Daedone in prison.
In 2009, published a report on Nicole Daedone and her wellness company, , which promoted female empowerment through the so-called “orgasmic meditation” (OM).
“I don’t believe that women will truly feel free until they take ownership of their sexuality”, said Daedone at the time, who considered herself the leader of “movimento slow-sex“, in which love and romance are dispensable.
The company was enormously successful. Initially, it operated from a warehouse in San Francisco, where many practitioners lived in a communitypracticing OM day and night, tells the .
He later opened venues in several US cities, including San Francisco, Austin and New York. The actress Gwyneth Paltrow promoted it on his podcast, and actors like David Schwimmer, Orlando Bloom e Brian Cox will have attended presentations.
In 2017, Daedone sold OneTaste for 12 million dollars. Nine years later, the company’s founder would end up being ordered to put into practice her orgasmic meditation in prison.
Last Monday, the judge Diane Gujaratiof the Federal District Court of Brooklyn, sentenced Daedone to 9 years in prison for his role in a “conspiracy involving forced labor“.
According to a note from the New York prosecutor’s office, the judge concluded that Daedone resorted to psychological coercionemotional and financial to fquote vulnerable women for sexual acts with clients and company investors. The company’s former head of sales, Rachel Cherwitzwas sentenced to 78 months in prison.
“This case exposed a scheme that lasted a decadein which the defendants used psychological, emotional and financial coercion to control their victims and extract work and services for their own benefit”, states the New York State Attorney in the statement, Joseph Nocella.
The decision came following a series of devastating investigations about the main executives of OneTaste, who were even, in 2022, the subject of a Netflix documentary with the title .
Former clients and trainers said they felt pressure to participate in explicit “demonstrations” and incurring large debts to pay for courses and retreats, some of which cost up to $60,000.
“A rule of thumb when exploring sex-positive spaces might be to ask, ‘Is someone getting rich from this?’”explains Anouchka Grosewriter and psychoanalyst in London. “If the answer is yes, there is a strong possibility that money is more important to the organizer than your well-being.”
But after all, what exactly is OM, the practice that is at the origin of this company and this controversy?
What is orgasmic meditation?
OM is a practice of mindfulness with rigid choreography. It is done in pairs, normally composed of a man and a woman. During the session, the woman reclines on a set of pillows and mantas known as “nest”.
The woman is naked from the waist downwith legs open in a butterfly position, while the person stimulating, usually a man, uses the index finger of his left hand to caressing a woman’s clitoris for 15 minutes.
According to the newspaperit’s Ellen Huetwho covered OneTaste extensively and wrote a book about the company, during these 15 minutes the woman and the person stimulating her must meditate on the sensation in their bodies.
Furthermore, the practice is intended to be “aimless”that is, there is no expectation of reciprocity or any subsequent contact between the two participants. “The most dedicated practitioners did OM four times a day, or more — twice in the morning, twice in the evening.”
According to several platforms linked to OM, orgasmic meditation helps with stress resistance, emotional regulationin positive affects and in “mystical experiences”.
However, there are very little independent research into the effects of OM – practically all existing studies were conducted by the OM Foundation or by researchers linked to the company.
Orgasm does, in fact, have physiological benefits, says Grose. “Under the right conditions, orgasms can reduce anxietyhelping us sleep and even relieving pain,” he says. Some studies have also shown that they can improve confidence, put us in a better mood and even strengthen the immune system.
“But This doesn’t mean women ‘should’ be having orgasms all the time, by any means necessary“, he warns. “If this turns into a kind of medicalized imposition, then there is a problem.”
One of the objectives assumed by Daedone was eliminate shame around sex and sexuality. This can be valuable, says Grose. “Many sexual harms continue to occur due to the privacy and secrecy surrounding sex.”
But meet in groups and exert peer pressure can also be harmful. Grose warns of the groupthink that can arise in these contexts, leading people to “do things you don’t want to do because everyone in the group seems to be okay with it.”
