Nicole Daedone, founder of the 'orgasmic meditation' company OneTaste, which once achieved celebrity endorsement and a $12M sale, has been sentenced to federal prison for coercing vulnerable women into sex acts, exposing the dark underbelly of her wellness empire.
Nicole Daedone founded OneTaste in 2009, promoting 'orgasmic meditation' (OM) as a path to women's empowerment. The company rapidly grew, operating communally in San Francisco before expanding nationwide, attracting celebrity attention from figures like Gwyneth Paltrow, David Schwimmer, and Orlando Bloom. Daedone sold OneTaste for $12 million in 2017. However, her journey recently culminated in a federal prison sentence for using psychological, emotional, and financial coercion to force vulnerable women into sex acts with company clients and investors. This ruling followed damning investigations, including the Netflix documentary 'Orgasm Inc,' which revealed former clients and teachers felt pressured into explicit 'demonstrations' and accrued significant debt for expensive courses. OM, developed by Daedone, is a structured mindfulness practice where a 'stroker' (typically a man) stimulates a woman's clitoris for 15 minutes in a 'goalless' manner. While OneTaste claimed benefits like stress resilience and emotional regulation, most supporting research was internal. Experts like Dr. Anouchka Grose caution that while orgasms have physiological benefits, monetizing such practices, lack of consent training, and groupthink can lead to harm, prioritizing profit over participant well-being.
