7. Sex, money, power

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 Taste was all about the female orgasm – but a lot of men wanted to get involved too, whether to learn how to relate to women better or just in the hope of more sex.And because Orgasmic Meditation was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, the home of Silicon Valley, it attracted a lot of men who worked in the tech industry, some of whom were extremely wealthy.Many of the women who got involved in One Taste were younger, and open to trying out something different and new age in the search to explore their sexuality, or sometimes heal from trauma.These two demographics created some complicated gender dynamics, which One Taste used to develop predatory and exploitative sales tactics.Former One Taste members tell us about the interplay between sex, money and power within the organisation.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

Om Podcasten

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.