The Orgasm Cult

6. One woman’s story

This podcast is now the subject of a legal complaint by Nicole Daedone, Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste Incorporated, the Institute of OM LLC and OM IP Co. One former One Taste member tells us the story of her experiences inside One Taste.Before she encountered One Taste, she had struggled to orgasm, and mainstream doctors hadn’t been able to tell her why.She says the prospect that she could experience orgasm through Orgasmic Meditation left her “saturated with hope”.Initially, One Taste welcomed her with open arms – but the company soon became exploitative.She was encouraged to go into debt to pay for One Taste classes, to turn away from her friends and family, and to start a relationship with a wealthy One Taste member who could pay for her courses – a situation she describes as “not exactly prostitution, but not completely different”.She left One Taste with PTSD.Plus, her brother tells us what it was like to watch his sister become more and more distant from the outside world.If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, help and advice are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy

This podcast is now the subject of a legal complaint by Nicole Daedone, Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste Incorporated, the Institute of OM LLC and OM IP Co.In the search for wellness, how far would you go?Nicole Daedone, the charismatic co-founder of wellness company One Taste believed that orgasm would one day sit alongside yoga and meditation as the self-care practice for the modern empowered women. Except that now the FBI is making enquiries in to One Taste over allegations including sex trafficking, prostitution and violations of labour law.How did Orgasmic Meditation go from hippy beginnings to a sleek, million-dollar operation? How did this wellness practise – touted as the next big thing everywhere from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to the New York Times – lead to isolation, debt and abuse?Why is women’s health and pain still not taken seriously by conventional medicine? The Orgasm Cult is a story about people desperate for connection and how far they would go to find it. Join Nastaran Tavakoli-Far as she investigates One Taste through exclusive interviews with former employees and asks big questions about the wellness industry.