Masters and Johnson, two American researchers, made important contributions to the understanding of human sexual behavior. William Howell Masters (1915-2001), a physician, and his research associate, Virginia Eshelman Johnson (1925-2013), pioneered in the scientific study of sexual arousal and the treatment of sexual problems.
Masters began the sex research program at Washington University in St. Louis in 1954, and Johnson joined him in 1957. At that time, scientists knew little about the body’s physiological responses to sexual stimulation. Masters and Johnson used motion pictures and special instruments to record such responses in men and women who volunteered to engage in sexual activity.
Masters and Johnson wrote a summary of their findings called Human Sexual Response (1966). This book was written in technical language for physicians and other health scientists, but it became a best seller. The research of Masters and Johnson created great controversy. Their critics called them immoral and accused them of dehumanizing sex.
In 1964, Masters and Johnson established the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation (now called the Masters and Johnson Institute) in St. Louis, Missouri. This clinic treated couples with sexual problems, trained other therapists, and conducted further research. It closed in 1994, when Masters retired.
Masters and Johnson also wrote Human Sexual Inadequacy (1970), The Pleasure Bond (1975), and Homosexuality in Perspective (1979). Masters received his M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Johnson began as a research assistant in the sex research project. Masters and Johnson were married in 1971. They divorced in 1993.
