Member-only story
“Orgasm Inc.: The Story of OneTaste” is a Cautionary Tale
From fun to financial success to traumatic encounters
An idea of empowering women by taking control over their orgasms and creating better male lovers turns into a nightmare as a group of like-minded people morphed into an organization that crossed boundaries and possibly laws.
Nicole Daedone had an idea that she shared with the world: female empowerment through orgasm.
It wasn’t an new idea, but Daedone knew how to promote it as the astute business person she turned out to be. And just as with real estate, the key to business is location, location, location. The Bay Area was a perfect place to bring in people who were searching to both connect with others and to have better orgasms.
And they had money.
Unlike many businesses, including those promoting sexual wellness, OneTaste members had a place to live in the city. For those of us who grew up watching MTV in the 1980s and then into the 1990s, the situation seemed like an adult-rated “The Real World.”
However, like many businesses, Daedone understood that you couldn’t stick to a singular direction. OneTaste grew from a perspective to a path, from a feeling to a faith. Orgasmic Meditation (OM) was born and soon practices included preaching, but without the church.
This was a smart business move as the Bay Area has had many spiritual seekers who accepted the idea of sexual wellness. It also provided a structure with goals to the group who lived together.
Ellen Huet, a Bloomberg News Reporter, said in the documentary, “I’ve talked to many people who said orgasmic meditation changed their life, that it helped them experience sexual pleasure that they thought was unreachable for them.”
At this point (fifteen minutes into the documentary), it is easy to cheer for Daedone. Another ten minutes discusses how the company grew to many locations around the world, gained partnerships with celebrities and had multimillion-dollar earnings.
Then in 2017, Huet was contacted to write a story about OneTaste. But as Huet started to research the company, a darker side to Daedone’s group came to light.
