
The Dark Side of the Orgasmic Meditation Company - pmcpinto
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-18/the-dark-side-of-onetaste-the-orgasmic-meditation-company
======
throwawayqdhd
> It’s best known for classes on “orgasmic meditation,” a trademarked
> procedure that typically involves a man using a gloved, lubricated fingertip
> to stroke a woman’s clitoris for 15 minutes

Who would have thought that a company that offers this could have a dark side?

~~~
coldtea
The company might have plenty dark sides, but what's described above is only
"dark" in puritan sex-phobic cultures...

~~~
toasterlovin
You may want to consider the idea that traditional, conservative attitudes
toward sex exist in part specifically to prevent the kind of coercive bullshit
that inevitable arises in "free love" environments.

~~~
coldtea
Because "conservative attitudes toward sex" don't produce "coercive bullshit"
(and foster all kinds of sex related obsessions and psychosis, including
rape).

~~~
toasterlovin
I was responding to somebody taking a dismissive view of conservative
attitudes to sexuality by pointing out that there are probably some positives
to those attitudes, including that they are pretty effective at preventing the
kind of heinous stuff that happened at the cult in the article. That's it. I
did not make a general statement about conservative attitudes toward sex and I
actually agree that there are issues.

------
insickness
A few years ago I went to a one-day seminar with OM. It irritated the hell out
of me. 90% of it was them talking about how much the 'practice' changed their
lives. Then they went around the room and asked each member to talk about how
excited they were to start. If you didn't, they put you on the spot and
embarrassed you. I left halfway through after demanding my money back.

~~~
pknopf
Did they end up giving you your money back?

~~~
insickness
They did. At first they said that it would be processed but I told them that's
not good enough and made them process it right there.

------
1024core
As an SF native, and finding cults to be interesting, I dipped my toes in OM a
couple of times.

Nicole Daedone is the founder.. but follow the links to Viktor Baranco, if you
want to know more.

They used to run this "dorm" at 1080 Folsom in SF; but eventually got out of
that business.

I remember once I was at one of their presentations. At the end of the
presentation, men and women were paired up for a round of stroking. Of course,
men outnumbered the women. So one of the organizers called up the dorm at 1080
Folsom (which was right around the corner) and told them to "send more women".
And soon, a bunch of women showed up, ready to be stroked...

Once they had my number, they'd call me endlessly, selling some "retreat" or
the other, for $$$. No thanks!

I've lost touch with them over the last couple of years, but it's a sex-
addiction cult, if I were to label it.

------
mmagin
"At OneTaste events, attendees often played communication games prompting them
to share vulnerable stories. Former staffers say they took notes that might
help them sell later—maybe a student was recently divorced and lonely—and
senior staff assigned subordinates to home in on wealthy students who seemed
attracted to them or had experiences in common."

Eww.

------
pjc50
Of course it's a disaster, it's a for-profit sex cult. It even tells you that
in the name.

------
jxub
> The company has hired executives and advisers who worked at CrossFit and the
> juice maker Odwalla, and OM has won endorsements from Khloé Kardashian and
> Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Body).

I am freaking out that such a dangerous cult could be so promoted and
entrenched in the "influencer culture".

~~~
erric
Reading the article, it feels like OT pulled directly from the $cientology
playbook.

------
moate
I've got a friend who works for these guys. It's always felt a bit off in the
way weird hippie sex communes always would. I'd never have guessed it was this
culty.

Wow

------
toasterlovin
ProTip: Avoid any organization that promotes living arrangements other than
monogamous pair bonds residing in their own homes.

Source: extensive reading about cults.

~~~
rosser
I suppose those monogamous pair-bonds should be heterosexual only, too?

Please lay off with the attempt to normalize any but your preferred flavor as
deviant and wrong. You don't get to decide what happens in _any bedroom but
your own_.

~~~
toasterlovin
You are arguing against stuff I didn't say. I would guess that monogamy works
best for most of the people most of the time, but there's tremendous variation
in temperament and personality in our species, so do what works for you!

I was making an observation about _organizations_ that promote non-monogamy
and communal living. They are almost invariably cults, regardless of how they
present themselves to the outside world.

~~~
rosser
Yeah:

>> _The monogamous pair bonds _are_ the coercive bullshit._

> _It 's like Churchill said about democracy: It's the worst system, except
> for all the others._

That's totally about coercive organizational dynamics, and not merely
moralizing.

~~~
toasterlovin
Again, I am making a statement about what I think is the overall best system
(for most people, most of the time; and admitting that it is imperfect while
I'm at it!). In no way have I advocated for forcing that system on people.

~~~
rosser
You only get to decide what's the best system _for you_.

But that's not even the point behind my criticizing your approach. People with
non-mainstream lifestyles are already more often than not marginalized,
sometimes _to death_. Please don't make that worse for them. You have _no
idea_ how alienating it can be to have something as closely tied to one's
identity as one's sexuality generally is hand-waved about by people whose
words carry clear disapproval.

If you did have an inkling of what that kind of Othering felt like, I don't
think you'd talk that way so casually, or without qualification.

~~~
toasterlovin
I'm bailing on this thread, but my accounting of what happened here is that
you repeatedly mischaracterized my position (even accusing me of homophobia,
which is incredibly insulting, btw), while I calmly re-iterated my position.
Given that, I don't really see the need to change what I'm doing.

~~~
rosser
I did not accuse you of homophobia, though that is a legitimate read of my
comment, as phrased. I took your position of normalizing "traditional" human
sexual dynamics and pointed out (in a manner admittedly somewhat motivated by,
"Oh, god. Not this shit again...") the slippery slope you're treading.

If you feel I mischaracterized your point, I apologize. It was not my intent.
I just have entirely too many queer and non-mainstream friends whose lives
have been terribly adversely affected by other people telling them the myriad
ways they're wrong, not to be a little reactive to it.

Your overall point isn't wrong. How you phrased it (and how I phrased my
response) could have been done in a way that was more cognizant of how broad
the brush you're swinging might seem to people getting splattered as you swing
it.

Is that an unreasonable ask?

------
stickfigure
I'll bet the Landmark Forum folks are thinking: _Damn. I wish I 'd thought of
that._

------
dna_polymerase
OT: I really expected Bloomberg to do better than NYT and others regarding
their subscription service. How is it, that I would have to contact them to
cancel my subscription? What is so hard about a simple cancel button. Also
their pricing is way out of line. The introductory offer is $9.99 (which is
just in the Netflix range and about right for a single service) but after 6
Months I'd have to pay $35? It needs more than one subscription to a news site
to get a pluralistic world view and this high pricing works straight against
that.

~~~
yono38
Try this:
[https://outline.com/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/...](https://outline.com/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-18/the-
dark-side-of-onetaste-the-orgasmic-meditation-company)

------
dwighttk
Sounds like all dark side to me

