A second Bali 'tantric orgasm' retreat in months triggers outrage and a deportation
Indonesian officials investigated and a Canadian organizer was deported after a Ubud retreat advertising a 'tantric full body orgasm' event went viral just weeks after a nearly identical controversy.
A "tantric full body orgasm" retreat scheduled for May 8, 2021, in Ubud, Bali, triggered a wave of outrage in Indonesia and prompted an official investigation, according to Coconuts Bali, marking the second such controversy on the island in a matter of months.
The event, listed on Eventbrite at a cost of around €20 per participant, advertised intensive sexual education and what organizers called "orgasmic awakening" achieved through non-genital touch in a scent-free environment, Coconuts Bali reported. The listing was removed from Eventbrite before the scheduled date, and Indonesian immigration authorities opened an investigation after the event went viral on social media and drew national news coverage.
Jamaruli Manihuruk, head of Bali's Ministry of Law and Human Rights office, said officers were dispatched once the story spread. "After the news went viral, we dispatched our officers and they have summoned the organizer and his sponsor," he said, according to Coconuts Bali. A Canadian national held responsible for the event was later deported from Indonesia over what officials deemed conduct "disrespectful" to local customs, per Coconuts Bali's follow-up reporting.
The second incident of the year
The May controversy followed a nearly identical one two months earlier: an Australian-organized four-day "Tantric full body energy orgasm retreat" in Ubud, priced at $650 per person, was canceled after similar online backlash, Coconuts Bali reported at the time. Balinese designer and politician Niluh Djelantik had likened that earlier event to a "modern-day sex business."
Religious and cultural objection
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest Islamic clerical body, condemned the May event directly, with Deputy Chairman Anwar Abbas saying the retreat was "opposing culture and religion," and adding that it stood "in contradiction with Indonesian culture, especially culture in Bali which closely holds traditions and religious norms," according to Coconuts Bali's reporting. Officials later said the event had in fact been canceled roughly a month before its scheduled date, and the venue named in early reports, Karma House, denied hosting it — its founder said the property had been closed since August 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Coconuts Bali. It restores a story originally published on this site in May 2021; figures are as reported at the time.