Masters and

Johnson

The Masters and Johnson research team,

composed of William H. Masters and
Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research
into the nature of human sexual response
and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual
disorders and dysfunctions from 1957
until the 1990s.[1][2]
The work of Masters and Johnson began
in the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology at Washington University in St.
Louis and was continued at the
independent not-for-profit research
institution they founded in St. Louis in
1964, originally called the Reproductive
Biology Research Foundation and
renamed the Masters and Johnson
Institute in 1978.

In the initial phase of Masters and

Johnson's studies, from 1957 until 1965,
they recorded some of the first laboratory
data on the anatomy and physiology of
human sexual response based on direct
observation of 382 women and 312 men in
what they conservatively estimated to be
"10,000 complete cycles of sexual
response". Their findings, particularly on
the nature of female sexual arousal (for
example, describing the mechanisms of
vaginal lubrication and debunking the
earlier widely held notion that vaginal
lubrication originated from the cervix) and
orgasm (showing that the physiology of
orgasmic response was identical whether
stimulation was clitoral or vaginal, and,
separately, proving that some women were
capable of being multiorgasmic), dispelled
many long-standing misconceptions.[2][3]
They jointly wrote two classic texts in the
field, Human Sexual Response and Human
Sexual Inadequacy, published in 1966 and
1970, respectively. Both of these books
were best-sellers and were translated into
more than thirty languages. The team has
been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of
Fame.[4] Additionally, they are the focus of
a television series called Masters of Sex[5]
for Showtime based on the 2009
biography by author Thomas Maier.[5]

Research work
Masters and Johnson met in 1957 when
William Masters hired Virginia Johnson as
a research assistant to undertake a
comprehensive study of human sexuality.
According to author Thomas Maier, as part
of their clinical research, Masters and
Johnson observed paid volunteers
engaging in sexual activity while hooked to
wires in their lab.[5] At Masters's request,
Masters and Johnson engaged in
intercourse as subjects of their own study
and eventually became lovers.[5] Maier
stated they often spent summer vacations
together in Masters's home while his wife
Libby and children were traveling, and that
associates believed that towards the end
of his marriage to first wife Libby, Masters
and Johnson worked and traveled together
seven days a week.[5] Maier also stated
that Masters spent more time in the lab
with Johnson than he did with his wife and
children and all but lived with Johnson in
whose home he spent much time.[5]
Masters divorced his first wife to marry
Johnson in 1971.[6] Masters and Johnson
divorced on March 18, 1993 in the Circuit
Court of St. Louis County; they
nonetheless continued to work together
professionally.

Previously, the study of human sexuality

(sexology) had been a largely neglected
field of study due to the restrictive social
conventions of the time, with prostitution
as a notable exception.

Alfred Kinsey and colleagues at Indiana

University had previously published two
volumes on sexual behavior in the human
male and female (known as the Kinsey
Reports), in 1948 and 1953, respectively,
both of which had been revolutionary and
controversial in their time. Kinsey's work
however, had mainly investigated the
frequency with which certain behaviors
occurred in the population and was based
on personal interviews, not on laboratory
observation. In contrast, Masters and
Johnson set about to study the structure,
psychology, and physiology of sexual
behavior, through observing and
measuring masturbation and sexual
intercourse in the laboratory.

Initially, participants used in their

experiments were prostitutes. Masters
and Johnson explained that they were a
socially isolated group of people, they
were knowledgeable about sex, and that
they were willing to cooperate with the
study. Of the 145 prostitutes who
participated, only a select few were further
evaluated for their genital anatomy and
their physiological responses. In later
studies, however, Masters and Johnson
recruited 382 women and 312 men from
the community. The vast majority of
participants were white, they had higher
education levels, and most participants
were married couples.[7]

As well as recording some of the first

physiological data from the human body
and sex organs during sexual excitation,
they also framed their findings and
conclusions in language that espoused
sex as a healthy and natural activity that
could be enjoyed as a source of pleasure
and intimacy.
The era in which their research was
conducted permitted the use of methods
that had not been attempted before, and
that have not been attempted since: "[M]en
and women were designated as 'assigned
partners' and arbitrarily paired with each
other to create 'assigned couples'."[8]

Four-stage model of the

sexual response
One of the most enduring and important
aspects of their work has been the four
stage model of sexual response, which
they described as the human sexual
response cycle[2][3] and defined as:
 Excitement phase (initial arousal)
Plateau phase (at full arousal, but not
yet at orgasm)
Orgasm
Resolution phase (after orgasm)

Their model shows no difference between

Sigmund Freud's purported categories of
"vaginal orgasm" and "clitoral orgasm": the
physiological response was identical, even
if the stimulation was in a different
place.[2][3]

Masters and Johnson's findings also

revealed that men undergo a refractory
period following orgasm during which they
are not able to ejaculate again, whereas
there is no refractory period in women: this
makes women capable of multiple
orgasm.[2][3] They also were the first to
describe the phenomenon of the rhythmic
contractions of orgasm in both sexes
occurring initially in 0.8 second intervals
and then gradually slowing in both speed
and intensity.

Sexual response in the aging

person
Masters and Johnson were the first to
conduct research on the sexual
responsiveness of older adults, finding
that given a state of reasonably good
health and the availability of an interested
and interesting partner, there was no
absolute age at which sexual abilities
disappeared. While they noted that there
were specific changes to the patterns of
male and female sexual responses with
aging – for example, it takes older men
longer to become aroused and they
typically require more direct genital
stimulation, and the speed and amount of
vaginal lubrication tends to diminish with
age as well – they noted that many older
men and women are perfectly capable of
excitement and orgasm well into their
seventies and beyond, a finding that has
been confirmed in population-based
epidemiological research on sexual
function in the elderly.[9]

Laboratory comparison of
homosexual male versus
homosexual female sex
Masters and Johnson randomly assigned
gay men into couples and lesbians into
couples and then observed them having
sex in the laboratory, at the Masters and
Johnson Institute. They provided their
observations in Homosexuality in
Perspective:
Assigned male homosexual
study subjects A, B, and C...,
interacting in the laboratory
with previously unknown male
partners, did discuss procedural
matters with these partners, but
quite briefly. Usually, the
discussion consisted of just a
question or a suggestion, but
often it was limited to nonverbal
communicative expressions
such as eye contact or hand
movement, any of which usually
proved sufficient to establish the
 protocol of partner interaction.
No coaching or suggestions
were made by the research
team.

— p. 55

According to Masters and Johnson, this

pattern differed in the lesbian couples:

While initial stimulative activity

tended to be on a mutual basis,
in short order control of the
specific sexual experience
usually was assumed by one
 partner. The assumption of
control was established without
verbal communication and
frequently with no obvious
nonverbal direction, although
on one occasion discussion as to
procedural strategy continued
even as the couple was
interacting physically.

— p. 55

Sexual dysfunction
Their research into the anatomy and
physiology of sexual response was a
springboard to developing a clinical
approach to the treatment of sexual
problems in a revolutionary manner. Prior
to 1970, when they described their
treatment program to the world for the
first time, sexual dysfunctions such as
premature ejaculation, impotence,
vaginismus, and female frigidity had been
generally treated by long-term (multi-year)
psychotherapy or psychoanalysis with very
low rates of success. Masters and
Johnson revolutionized things by devising
a form of rapid treatment (2 week)
psychotherapy always involving a couple,
rather than just an individual, working with
a male-female therapist team that resulted
in a success rate of more than 80%. This
was strictly a talking therapy – couples in
their sex therapy program were never
observed in sexual activity.

Treatment of homosexual
behavior
From 1968 to 1977, the Masters and
Johnson Institute ran a program to convert
homosexuals to heterosexuality. This
program reported a 71.6% success rate
over a six-year treatment period.[10][11] At
the time of their earlier work,
homosexuality was classified as a
psychological disorder by the American
Psychiatric Association,[12] a classification
which was repealed in 1973.

Thomas Maier stated "that Virginia

Johnson had serious reservations about
Masters' conversion theory, and she
suspected that, at worst, the results of the
study may have been fabricated by William
Masters".[5][13] Clinical associate to the
Masters's and psychiatrist Robert C.
Kolodny also expressed reservations
about the veracity of the findings in
Masters's book on the topic and alleged
that Masters had not kept files of the case
studies cited in the book.[5] Shortly before
the book was published, he wrote Masters
a two-page letter expressing Johnson's
and Kolodny's reservations on the alleged
successful reconversion findings and
urging him to reconsider publication of the
book, to no avail.[5] As homosexuality was
on the verge of being dropped from the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM), Masters's insistence on
publishing the book proved to be tone-deaf
and was shunned by book critics.[5]

Criticisms
Some sex researchers, Shere Hite in
particular, have focused on understanding
how individuals regard sexual experience
and the meaning it holds for them. Hite
has criticized Masters and Johnson's work
for uncritically incorporating cultural
attitudes on sexual behavior into their
research; for example, her work concluded
that the 70% of women who do not have
orgasms through intercourse are able to
achieve orgasm easily by
masturbation.[14][15][16] She, as well as
Elisabeth Lloyd, have criticized Masters
and Johnson's argument that enough
clitoral stimulation to achieve orgasm
should be provided by thrusting during
intercourse, and the inference that the
failure of this is a sign of female "sexual
dysfunction".[16] While not denying that
both Kinsey and Masters and Johnson
have made major contributions to sex
research, she believes that people must
understand the cultural and personal
construction of sexual experience to make
the research relevant to sexual behavior
outside the laboratory. Hite's work,
however, has been challenged for
methodological defects.[17]

Moreover, Masters and Johnson's research

methodology has been criticized. First,
Paul Robinson argues that because many
of their participants were sex workers, it is
highly likely that these individuals have
had more sexual experience and are more
comfortable with sex and sexuality in
general.[18] He says that one must
approach these results with caution,
because the participants do not represent
the general population.

Other researchers have argued that

Masters and Johnson eliminated same-
sex attracted participants when studying
the human sexual response cycle, which
also limits the generalizability of their
results.[19]

Furthermore, Masters and Johnson have

been criticized for studying sexual
behaviors in the laboratory. While they
attempted to make participants as
comfortable as possible in the lab by
giving them a "practice session" before
their behavior was recorded, critics have
argued that two people engaging in sexual
activity in a lab is a different experience
compared to being in the privacy and
comfort of one's home.[19][20]

Another persistent critique was that

despite her extensive years of clinical
work, Virginia Johnson never earned a
university degree and often did not correct
those who referred to her in the press or in
person as "Dr. Johnson."[5]
Dramatic production
The American cable network Showtime
debuted Masters of Sex, a dramatic
television series based on the 2009
biography of the same name, on
September 29, 2013. The series stars
Michael Sheen as Masters and Lizzy
Caplan as Johnson.

Masters and Johnson were also

referenced in a 1974 Italian comedy
directed by Bruno Corbucci, Il trafficone.

One character in the film Mallrats (1995) is

nicknamed Masters & Johnson for her
bizarre school project of studying sex.
Publications
Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1966).
Human Sexual Response. Toronto; New
York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-
20429-2. 1981 edition ISBN 978-
0553204292.
Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1970).
Human Sexual Inadequacy . Toronto;
New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-
553-20699-9.
Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1974). The
Pleasure Bond. Toronto; New York:
Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-20915-
0.
 Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1979).
Homosexuality in Perspective. Toronto;
New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-
553-20809-2.
Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E.; Kolodny,
R.C (1988). Masters and Johnson on Sex
and Human Loving. Little, Brown and
Company. ISBN 978-0316501606.
Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E.; Kolodny,
R.C (1994). Heterosexuality. New York;
London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-
7225-3027-6.

References
1. "Masters and Johnson" . The
 Discovery Channel. Archived from the
original on 18 May 2006. Retrieved
September 22, 2011.
2. Federation of Feminist Women's
Health Centers (FFWHC) (1991). A
New View of a Woman's Body.
Feminist Heath Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-
0-9629945-0-0.
3. John Archer, Barbara Lloyd (2002). Sex
and Gender . Cambridge University
Press. pp. 85–88. ISBN 978-
0521635332. Retrieved August 25,
2012.
4. St. Louis Walk of Fame. "St. Louis
Walk of Fame Inductees" .
 stlouiswalkoffame.org. Retrieved
25 April 2013.
5. Maier, Thomas (2009). Masters of
sex : the life and times of William
Masters and Virginia Johnson, the
couple who taught America how to
love. New York: Basic Books.
ISBN 9780465003075.
6. Nemy, Enid. "AN AFTERNOON WITH:
Masters and Johnson; Divorced, Yes,
But Not Split" , The New York Times,
1994-03-24. Retrieved on 2008-12-03.
7. Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1966).
Human Sexual Response. Toronto;
 New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-
553-20429-2.
8. Masters, W. H., & Johnson, V. E.
(1979). Homosexuality in perspective.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p.
11.
9. Helgason, Asgeir; Jan Adolfsson; Paul
Dickman; Stefan Arver; Mats
Fredrikson; Marianne Göthberg;
Gunnar Steineck (1996). "Sexual
Desire, Erection, Orgasm and
Ejaculatory Functions and Their
Importance to Elderly Swedish Men: A
Population-based Study". Age and
Ageing. 25 (4): 285–291.
 doi:10.1093/ageing/25.4.285 .
PMID 8831873 .
10. Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1979).
Homosexuality in Perspective.
Toronto; New York: Bantam Books.
ISBN 978-0-553-20809-2.
11. Schwartz, MF; Masters, WH (1
February 1984). "The Masters and
Johnson treatment program for
dissatisfied homosexual men".
American Journal of Psychiatry. 141
(2): 173–181.
doi:10.1176/ajp.141.2.173 .
PMID 6691475 .
12. See Homosexuality and
psychology#Declassification
13. Maier, Thomas (2009-04-27). "Can
Psychiatrists Really "Cure"
Homosexuality?: Scientific American" .
Sciam.com. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
14. Hite, Shere (2004). The Hite Report: A
Nationwide Study of Female
Sexuality . New York, NY: Seven
Stories Press. pp. 512 pages.
ISBN 978-1-58322-569-1. Retrieved
March 2, 2012.
15. Shere Hite: "I was making the point
that clitoral stimulation wasn't
happening during coitus. That's why
women 'have difficulty having
orgasms' - they don't have difficulty
when they stimulate themselves.
Tracey Cox: "It's disappointing that one
of Hite's main messages - that 70 per
cent of women don't have orgasms
through penetration - is not completely
accepted today. Plenty of women don't
feel comfortable admitting it, even to
themselves, for fear their partners will
love them less. But women are far
more experimental now." "Shere Hite:
On female sexuality in the 21st
century" . The Independent. April 30,
2006. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
16. Elisabeth Anne Lloyd (2005). The case
of the female orgasm: bias in the
science of evolution . Harvard
University Press. pp. 21–53. ISBN 978-
0-674-01706-1. Retrieved January 5,
2012.
17. Selected Articles by David Streitfeld
18. Robinson, P. (1976). The
Modernization of Sex: Havelock Ellis,
Alfred Kinsey, William Masters and
Virginia Johnson. New York: Harper &
Row, Publishers, Inc.
19. Hyde, J. S., DeLamater, J. D., & Byers,
E. S. (2012). Understanding Human
 Sexuality, 5th ed. McGraw-Hill
Ryerson.
20. Masters, W. H. & Johnson, V. E. (1966).
Human Sexual Response. Toronto;
New York: Bantam Books.

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