Bay Area ‘sex cult’ workers forced to service wealthy clients sexually: Witnesses
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BROOKLYN (CN) — Former members of OneTaste, a Bay Area organization that sold sex acts as mindfulness, said their bosses had them sexually service high-paying clients and encouraged them to date people who repulsed them.
OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone, 57, and former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz, 44, each face one count of forced labor conspiracy. They could serve up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The core teaching at OneTaste, branded as “orgasmic meditation,” is a far cry from the traditional solitary practice of meditation; instead, it’s a partnered activity that involves methodically stroking a woman’s genitals for 15 minutes.
Behind closed doors, prescriptive sex was even more overt than was publicly espoused, witnesses said.
Dana, who took the stand Tuesday, was the second government witness to testify that she was assigned to sexually service Daedone’s former partner and an early investor in OneTaste named Reese Jones.
She was instructed to engage in BDSM activities like walking Jones around on a leash or whipping him with cattails, she said, and at one point moved in with Jones for about three months. The two had sex frequently, which she understood was part of the job. She didn’t particularly enjoy it.
“I liked him as a person; I wouldn’t say I was attracted to him,” she testified on cross-examination.
While she was never officially on OneTaste’s payroll, Dana, whose full name is being withheld, worked for Daedone and other leaders, including gardening and making food arrangements. Meanwhile, she paid the group around $30,000 for courses, which she funded in part from sex work that a friend in OneTaste helped her arrange. She was also instructed, including by Cherwitz, to engage in sex acts with other high-paying clients, Dana testified.
Like other witnesses have testified, after getting involved with OneTaste, Dana moved into a communal living space where she shared a bed and participated in daily group “orgasmic meditation” sessions.
Dana said she largely cut herself off from other relationships outside of OneTaste and lost her sense of reality and values, echoing previous witnesses who said that through Daedone’s teachings, they were “brainwashed” into doing things they normally wouldn’t have done.
“Enlightenment was brought about by pushing past any barriers around sex and sexuality,” Dana explained. “If you’re repulsed by someone, push through it because that repulsion is keeping you from being free.”
According to defense attorneys, pushing boundaries was part of the personal growth people gained through OneTaste. They have likened it to working with a personal trainer who pushes the trainee to work out harder at the gym.
During Dana’s cross-examination, defense attorney Michael Robotti of Ballard Spahr showed photos of the witness going on trips with her family and a boyfriend who wasn’t part of the group. He pointed out that, despite her concerns about losing her entire support system if she left the company, she did at one point move out of the community and then return.
The defense also argues that open relationships and fluid sexuality were common at OneTaste, but always between consenting adults. However, multiple witnesses have said that leaders of OneTaste interfered with and even broke up romantic relationships that didn’t support the company’s goals.
Dana testified that while she was dating another woman, Daedone made comments like, “Oh, look, the lesbians are here,” and explained, “It was a little bit mean-spirited, from my perspective.”
And when Dana wanted to try out a monogamous relationship with her then-boyfriend, Robert, Daedone discouraged her, too.
According to the company leader, “I was not standing in my full power as a woman; I was taking away from his ability to be a turned-on man, and I should not be in a relationship with him,” Dana testified.
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