The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
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.
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1. Changing the world through orgasm - The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
Nastaran Tavakoli-Far explores the rise and fall of One Taste. We learn how to practise Orgasmic Meditation with a former member and his wife, and hear co-founder Nicole Daedone’s story of how she encountered a Buddhist monk at a party who changed her life. And former One Taste members and staff tell us about the optimism with which they joined the project, looking for a sense of purpose, for adventure, or for healing.
But we hear how things soon started to go sour, with predatory sales practices, coercive control and abuse – financial, emotional, physical and sexual.
And we’re also asking bigger questions that go beyond just one company.
What makes people turn to organisations like One Taste in search of connection in the modern world?
Why are women’s health and women’s sexuality still not taken seriously by conventional medicine?
And where is the line between healing and harm?
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy
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2. What is an orgasm? - The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
Before we dive into the story of One Taste, we go back to basics on the female orgasm.
What exactly is an orgasm?
What’s going on in the body and the brain during the process?
Why do some women struggle to experience orgasm?
And what’s the best way to get there?
We find out with neuroscientist and sex therapist Dr Nan Wise, author of Why Good Sex Matters: Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier and More Purpose-Filled Life, and social psychologist and psychotherapist Dr Sara Nasserzadeh, co-author of the Orgasm Answer Guide.
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy
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3. Welcome to One Taste - The Orgasm Cult
One Taste didn’t invent Orgasmic Meditation – but they did repackage it for a modern audience.
The idea of “deliberate orgasm” achieved by genital stroking started in the hippy communes of 1960s California. It was a time of huge social and sexual experimentation.
One Taste co-founder Nicole Daedone first experienced the practice in the late 1990s.
She had a vision of it reaching millions of people and changing the world – so she decided to redesign it as Orgasmic Meditation, making it sleeker and more structured.
Former One Taste members tell us about the early days of the organisation, living together in a warehouse in San Francisco and experimenting with sex, self-development and Orgasmic Meditation.
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy
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4. Why do people turn to the wellness industry? - The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
One Taste sold itself as a wellness company – part of a multi-billion dollar industry selling everything from green smoothies to healing crystals to cryotherapy.
The wellness industry has grown massively in recent years. Wellness practices can offer hope and empowerment to people – particularly women – who are looking for connection or meaning in their lives, or who have medical concerns that they feel haven’t been taken seriously by mainstream doctors.
But wellness can be a double edged sword. While it can offer a sense of control and community, the industry isn’t regulated, which can leave consumers vulnerable.
So what makes people turn to wellness?
What are they looking for that they can’t find elsewhere?
And what are the potential dangers of wellness practices?
We find out with Dr André Spicer, professor of organisational behaviour at Cass Business School and co-author of The Wellness Syndrome, and doctor, midwife and herbalist Dr Aviva Romm.
Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy
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5. Inside the OM Houses - The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
Many One Taste members lived in communal houses, known as OM houses. They would practice Orgasmic Meditation together multiple times a day while also working for One Taste selling and running courses.
Some people moved in to the OM houses only weeks after their first encounter with One Taste.
Some were attracted by the possibility of lots of sex, but others were looking for meaning, purpose or community in their lives.
And everyone was captivated by One Taste’s charismatic co-founder Nicole Daedone.
Former members tell us how exciting it was at first – but things soon got complicated.
The company was struggling to make money, and as the price tags for courses went up, the sales tactics got more and more predatory.
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
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6. One woman’s story - The Orgasm Cult
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www.bbc.co.uk]
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
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4 more episodes to come
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