Dark secrets of a wellness business

Investigative reporter Ellen Huet chronicles the descent of the company OneTaste.

- JULIA M. KLEIN

BREE ROSSI

ELLEN HUET wrote a groundbreaking 2018 investigation of One Taste for Bloomberg Businessweek.

Even at its most promising, well-publicized peak, the San Francisco-based company OneTaste wasn't exactly a Grated enterprise.

Its principal activity involved the clitoral stroking of partially nude women — in most cases by entirely clothed men, often in groups or before a paying audience.

OneTaste gave the practice, designed to occur in 15-minute increments, an inviting, wellness-focused name: orgasmic meditation, or OM (pronounced “ohm,” like the yoga mantra). The company’s charismatic founder, Nicole Daedone, borrowed the technique from other cult-like groups. But she branded and marketed it with gusto, spawning media accolades, celebrity acolytes, controversy - and a recent federal conviction for forced-labor conspiracy.

The emphasis on female sexual pleasure was, at least arguably, progressive, even if the voyeurism involved always seemed suspect. But, as Bloomberg News reporter Ellen Huet details in her riveting and intimate book, "Empire of Orgasm," far darker activities were afoot behind the scenes. Huet describes a community where leaders played damaging psychological games, promiscuity and conformity were celebrated, and members were pressured to use sex to please an important investor and sell expensive OneTaste classes to recruits.

Huet's groundbreaking 2018 investigative reporting for Bloomberg Businessweek revealed the exploitative aspects of OneTaste. A 2022 Netflix documentary, Sarah Gibson and Sloane Klevin's "Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste," leans on Huet's commentary, as well as painful testimonials from former members.