The owners of OneTaste, a San Francisco company whose “orgasmic meditation” retreats were made infamous by a Netflix documentary and a federal indictment, are selling their 162-acre Mendocino compound for $12 million.
A recently posted listing for “The Land,” a 30,000-square-foot “retreat center” about 150 miles north of San Francisco in the community of Philo, makes no mention of the controversial empire that once called it home. Instead, it touts the property’s “diverse accommodations” — nine eco-cabin units, nine houses, and 12 seasonal glamping tents — along with a “modern yoga studio” and “elegant meditation hall.”
“The Land is a state-of-the-art wellness eco-retreat center built for hosting events and retreats in the heart of the beautiful Anderson Valley,” the listing states, noting that SoulCycle, Louis Vuitton, Samasource, and Giphy are among the companies that have used the property for events.
Bob Wilms, a representative for the property owner, confirmed it was the site of OneTaste’s notorious orgasmic meditation retreats.
“The vision of The Land was for it to be a nexus for spiritual growth and for service,” Wilms said. “From the outset, there were OneTaste retreats held there.”
OneTaste, founded in 2004 by writer Nicole Daedone, touted itself as an educational organization teaching women to raise their consciousness and sexual empowerment through masturbation.
But the business imploded in 2018 after Bloomberg Businessweek published an exposé in which former employees said the company they were forced into working long hours and coerced into sexual servitude. The 2022 Netflix documentary “Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste” also details the allegations.
Daedone was arrested in 2023 on charges of conspiracy to commit forced labor and is awaiting trial. She has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement to The Standard, a spokesperson for her attorney called the Bloomberg story “riddled with inaccuracies” and said the charge against her was “built on shaky ground.”
“Despite all the sensationalist headlines about ‘federal indictments of sexual and financial coercion,’ the reality is far less dramatic,” the spokesperon said. “The only federal charge in this case is forced labor conspiracy. Nothing more.”
Daedone sold OneTaste in 2017, just before the explosive Bloomberg article, but remains an adviser and “visionary” for the company, according to a recent Wall Street Journal profile. Wilms said the Mendocino property is owned by OneTaste’s current owner, Amanda Dunham. A website for the property shows it hosted retreats for the organization as recently as January, with “optional” orgasmic meditation sessions.
Wilms said the company no longer had the bandwidth to run the sprawling center while building its online platform and running classes in New York, where its business operations are based.
“We don’t have the capacity to operate it, and it’s never been a project intended to make us a lot of money, so it’s time to just move on,” he said, adding that the company is “hoping to find a retreat center in New York sometime soon.”
But Daedone’s spokesperson suggested that the sale was connected to the founder’s ongoing legal battle.
“As for The Land, the ongoing legal battle has understandably taken a toll on the business,” he said. “Right now, maintenance isn’t the priority — fighting this case is. Once this legal farce is dismissed or adjudicated, we’ll rebuild.”
Wilms said the listing has attracted interest from half a dozen interested buyers, including groups hoping to run tech retreats and those interested in psychedelic therapies, but there are no offers on the table.
Before Daedone’s arrest, OneTaste was a $12 million-a-year business with celebrity followers like Gwyneth Paltrow and Khloe Kardashian. The company claimed that the practice of orgasmic meditation, in which a clothed partner masturbates a female participant while she focuses on the sensations in her body, offered women enhanced connection and creativity. In the 2011 TED Talk that shot her to fame, Daedone proclaimed it would be “turned-on women around the world who change the world.”
But the Bloomberg story and Netflix documentary gave voice to concerns from more than a dozen former employees and members who claimed the business was a cult that preyed on their sexual traumas and forced them into debt.
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A federal indictment against Daedone and her former head of sales claims the executives “recruited and groomed OneTaste members to engage in sexual acts with OneTaste’s current and prospective investors, clients, employees and beneficiaries” and “instructed the OneTaste members to engage in sexual acts — including acts the members found uncomfortable or repulsive — as a requirement to supposedly obtain freedom and enlightenment and demonstrate their commitment to OneTaste and Daedone.”
Daedone has denied these claims and told NBC News she plans to testify in her trial, which is set for this spring. She dismissed the indictment against her as “boilerplate” and said her business was “rooted 100% in consent.” If convicted, she faces 20 years in prison.