OneTaste sold the promise of female pleasure and empowerment—then its employees accused the company’s founders of abuse. Thessaly La Force reports on the trial that followed. Plus:

• The New Orleans that Katrina left behind
• Susan B. Glasser on Trump’s cringiest Cabinet meeting yet
• Life on a Christian commune

At around three in the afternoon on June 9th, in a courtroom on the fourth floor of Brooklyn’s federal courthouse, in Brooklyn Heights, a jury passed a note to the court officer, indicating that, after two days of deliberation, it had reached a verdict in the case of Nicole Daedone, the founder of a sexual-wellness company called OneTaste, and Rachel Cherwitz, its former head of sales. Both women had been charged with one count of forced-labor conspiracy, and both had pleaded not guilty. Daedone, tanned and blond, in a slate-blue pants suit, had smiled politely as the jury filed back into the courtroom. Her defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, who famously has a tattoo on her right biceps with the words “Not Guilty” spelled out in block lettering, sat next to her in a puff-sleeve black blazer. In 2021, she successfully overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual-assault conviction.

OneTaste, which Daedone launched with a partner in 2004, specialized in “orgasmic meditation,” a ritual focussed on the female orgasm, in which a woman, naked from the waist down, would have the upper-left quadrant of her clitoris stroked gently by a partner—often male, usually gloved—for fifteen minutes. Daedone has said the name was derived from a Buddhist expression, which she paraphrased as “Just as the ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so does the taste of liberation, the taste of truth.” Her larger goal was to awaken the world to what she often described as “the feminine power.” The company sold demonstrations, workshops, and retreats; at its height, in 2017, it reported at least ten million dollars in annual revenue. The idea was that one could practice orgasmic meditation—or OMing, as it was also called—as often, or as little, as one liked.

Twenty years ago this week, the storm shattered the near mystical version of New Orleans that existed in the popular imagination. In its place, it left a city destroyed, with few resources to rebuild. Nicholas Lemann reports »

Today’s Crossword Puzzle: Like the writers Colm Tóibín and Sally Rooney—five letters.

P.S. Sabrina Carpenter’s new album is out today. Carrie Battan deemed last summer the season of girly pop—with the release of records by Carpenter and Charli XCX that approached femininity “from a cool remove and treated as meta-commentary.” Does “Man’s Best Friend” continue that pattern? 💋