Virginia Johnson (1925–) was an aspiring opera singer when she applied for a research assistant position with William Masters (1915–2001), a gynecologist at Indiana University, in 1957. Neither of them knew it at the time, but it was the start of a lifelong partnership, both personal and professional. Not only did they marry in 1971, but the duo, who later became widely known as Masters and Johnson, went on to publish numerous books and papers that helped change the way society views sex. Without them, today’s Sex and the City television show—and lifestyle—would never have existed.

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When Masters and Johnson first began their research on human sexuality, it was still viewed as a taboo topic. Their groundbreaking work helped shift that concept of sex to one that viewed the act as a source of great pleasure and intimacy. To conduct their research, the team used polygraph-like tools to measure individuals’ responses to sexual activities. Using these devices, they observed more than 700 men and women while the participants had intercourse or masturbated. Masters and Johnson published these results in their 1966 book Human Sexual Response, which detailed the four stages of sex: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. When released, the book created a furor and went on to become a bestseller.

In their later works, Masters and Johnson tackled the subjects of impotence and premature ejaculation in Human Sexual Inadequacy, in which they argued that 90 percent of cases stemmed from emotional, not physical, reasons. This caused a shift in the way impotence was treated. They also made the case that homosexuality was not a mental illness but a personal preference, in their 1979 tome Homosexuality in Perspective. Although Masters and Johnson divorced in the early 1990s, they remained close friends and associates.

ADDITIONAL FACT

  1. Johnson went on to earn two honorary doctorate of science degrees.