At Chacruna: Sexual Assault and Gender Politics in Ayahuasca Traditions: A View from Brazil

Gretel Echazú & Camila Benedito

In August of this year, a bomb exploded in the world of New Age practitioners: The Brazilian guru, Prem Baba, a charismatic religious leader who propelled a New Age movement with a worldwide following, was accused of sexual abuse by two women who for years had been a part of his closest circle of adepts. Janderson Fernandes (Prem Baba’s birth name) was exposed by his victims to a major Brazilian news source, the Época Magazine, as having used his charismatic leadership to rope them into a series of sexual activities, which he called a special kind of “tantric treatment,” performed throughout by him and each woman “consensually.” continue reading.