Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult

A cautionary tale of sex and salvation for the wellness generation: how orgasmic meditation turned into a cult.

OneTaste hoped orgasm would change the world. Emerging in the midst of the late-aughts for-profit wellness boom, the company was unwavering in its faith in orgasmic meditation, or OM, a fifteen-minute practice featuring a woman being clitorally stimulated by a clothed, usually male partner. Nicole Daedone, the group's magnetic and cunning founder, envisioned a world where OM was as widespread as yoga. But Daedone's vision came with a price: behind the militant loyalty she inspired and the millions of dollars she raised was a cult of manipulation, abuse, and coercion driven by a relentless quest for control. And by the time the FBI showed up at her door in 2023 with an indictment alleging forced labor and grooming, even Daedone herself was no longer safe.

Building on the viral Bloomberg article that exposed the truth behind OneTaste and Daedone, Ellen Huet's Empire of Orgasm is a deeply reported and cinematic chronicle of how a boundary-pushing wellness program became a cult that ruthlessly exploited its members. Huet, the undeniable authority on the group, reveals how, in demanding absolute fealty to Daedone as a path to enlightenment and healing, OneTaste pushed its followers into nonconsensual sex, forced them into debt, and destroyed their personal lives.

A riveting true-crime saga and a nuanced exploration of the mechanics of manipulation, Empire of Orgasm is an extraordinary chronicle of wellness gone wrong.