Sue+Johanson

**Early Life and Career** Sue Johanson was born in Toronto, Canada to her father Wilfrid Powell, a solider, and her mother, Ethel Bell, an affluent Canadian (Deziel, 2004). While there is widespread belief that Sue is in her early 80’s, Sue has never revealed her true age (Talk Sex Productions, 2002). When Johanson was 10 years old, her mother suddenly died and she was forced to live with her stepmother and heavy-drinking father (Deziel, 2004).
 * Sue Johanson **

Johanson began her working life by training to be a nurse at a school run by Catholic nuns in Winnipeg, Canada (Deziel, 2004). Sue remarked of the experience that, “We were taught that sex was only for marriage. There was to be no birth control. Condoms were for protection against disease, and you had to punch holes in them to give sperm a fighting chance” (Deziel, 2004). Soon after graduating nursing school, Sue married Canadian electrician Ejnor Johanson and had three children, Carlo, Eric, and Jane (Deziel, 2004). Sue’s nursing and family experiences were very beneficial to her as it allowed her to acquire both the clinical and practical knowledge that she would need as she continued her nursing career as a sex education teacher in her later years (Potter, 2003).

**Sex Education** Sue Johanson did not focus on sexual education early in her nursing career. However, in 1969 a teenage friend of one of Johanson’s children revealed to Sue that she was pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Sue took the girl to New York to have the abortion, as there were not any abortion clinics in Canada during that time (Potter, 2003). This experience was pivotal for Sue, as it made her realize that many other kids might be in similar situations, and this could be because of a lack of sexual education. Because of a desire to control unwanted teen pregnancies, Johanson opened up a birth control clinic in the health room of a local high school in the 1970 (Potter, 2003). While operating this clinic, Sue realized that the kids she was seeing had never received any formal sexual education. It was at this point that Sue decided she wanted to teach sex, so she went back to school and in 1974 became a sex educator in Canadian schools (Potter, 2003)

**Media Beginnings** After years of running her birth control clinic and teaching sex education in Canadian schools, Sue Johanson deiced that she wanted to provide sex education to a larger audience, and radio seemed to be the perfect medium (Potter, 2003). Johanson made her radio debut in Canada in 1984 with her weekly program “Sunday Night Sex Show (Entertainment Editors, 2002). The show was two hours long and featured live calls with a question and answer format (Potter, 2003). Due to the rising popularity of Johanson’s radio show, a local Canadian cable station agreed to produce a television show for Sue in the early 1990’s (Goodwin, 2004). Sue’s big break came in 1996 when Canada’s Women’s Television Network (WTN) decided to air the show on their national channel (Entertainment Editors, 2002). Now on national television in Canada, Sue received around 65,000 calls week, and delighted Canadian viewers with her no-nonsense approach to sexuality, that included her showing off how different sex toys worked, along with demonstrating how different sexual positions could be performed by using dolls (Deziel, 2002). The popularity of Sue’s shows was so significant in Canada that in 2001 she received the Order of Canada, which is the country’s highest honor for lifetime achievement (Navarro, 2004).

**Mainstream Success** With “Sunday Night Sex Show” a hit in Canada, the American television network Oxygen began broadcasting the Canadian version of the show in 2001, and then later that same year decided to produce an American version titled “Talk Sex with Sue Johanson” (Lafayette, 2003). Similar to Sue’s radio show in 1984, “Talk Sex” featured live calls that were now exclusively from American audiences, with topics ranging from masturbation to group sex (Moore, 2003). With regard to the questions that Sue receives on her show, she has remarked, “You do get a shocker-a person wondering if it’s normal to have sex in a truck on a railway track before the train comes. And the kid who wants to know if it’s OK to [masturbate] in the peanut butter jar. There’s nobody else to ask. Do you ask your mom? Nooo. Do you ask your P.E. teacher? Nooo. Do you find it in a book? Nooo. Because I’m older, I seem safe, grandmotherly. And grandmothers always accept their children” (Goodwin, 2004). Additionally, the show also featured segments in which Sue displayed sex toys, reviewed books, and discussed the latest information on sexually transmitted diseases and sexual disorders (Goodwin, 2004).

By the first week of its American television debut, “Talk Sex” was an immediate hit, becoming Oxygen’s top-rated original program, and generating substantial internet buzz by garnering 2 million hits on the show’s website (Lafayette, 2003). Viewers responded positively to Johanson’s grandmotherly demeanor, and felt comfortable discussing their sexuality with her, as Johanson acknowledged, “I look like somebody’s grandmother and I am not cute and I’m not coy and I don’t have big white teeth and I haven’t got big boobs, so I’m seen as safe and mature and knowledgeable (Lafayette, 2003). The live taping format of “Talk Sex” made the show even more popular to American audiences, as the show received around 90,000 calls per show and millions of viewers each month (Navarro, 2004). However in 2008, after six seasons of the popular show, Johanson deiced that it was time to quit (Bauder, 2008). Even though in its final season “Talk Sex” was Oxygen’s most popular late night show, and had the highest ratings among young viewers since the series began, Johanson stated that, “I have been on television for 32 years. I think it’s time. I figured if we haven’t got it by now, we’re not going to get it. We’ve got to make room for somebody else” (Bauder, 2008).

**Views on Sexuality** Sue Johanson’s training as a nurse was very influential in forming her sexual philosophy. Working so intimately with patients made Sue realize that it’s not natural to be embarrassed or uncomfortable about your body (Potter, 2003). Regarding sex, Johanson believes to never “let sex just happen-always practice safe sex. I regard sex as a gift from God. We’re the only ones that really are able to enjoy sex, so we have an obligation to learn about it and enjoy it” (Navarro, 2004). Sue’s experiences on her early radio and television also shaped her philosophy on sexuality. Sue has summed up her beliefs by explaining that, “I’ll never say you should or you shouldn’t, I offer alternatives. It’s about being safe, healthy and comfortable with your body, and never doing anything you're not comfortable with” (Moore, 2003).

In addition to her radio and television programs, Sue has also written three books describing her sexual views, __Talk Sex__, __Sex is Perfectly Natural, But Not Naturally Perfect__, and __Sex, Sex, and More Sex__ (Talk Sex Productions, 2002). Additionally, there is a biography of Johanson written by the director of “Talk Sex” titled __Nocturnal Admissions – Sue Johanson and The Sunday Night Sex Show__.

**References** **Image References**
 * 1) Bauder, D. (2008, May 26). No more 'talk sex' for sue johanson. //USA// //Today//.
 * 2) Deziel, S. (2002, June). The scoop on sex and sue. //Maclean’s,// //115// (25), 56.
 * 3) Deziel, S. (2004). Sex, sue & celebrity. //Maclean’s,// 117(20), 30-33.
 * 4) Entertainment Editors. (2002, January 03). Oxygen debuts "sunday night sex show" featuring sue johanson, the straight-talking grandmother and registered nurse, beginning sunday, january 13 at 1:00 AM. //Business Wire,// 1.
 * 5) Goodwin, B. (2004, March). Viewers Sold on 'Talk Sex'. //TelevisionWeek,// //23// (9), 14.
 * 6) Lafayette, J. (2003, January). Can oxygen sell viewers hooked on 'talk sex'? //Cable//  //World,// //15// (1), 24-25.
 * 7) Moore, F. (2003, July 17). Frank talk about sex is right up grandma's alley ; treats callers with respect :[North Final Edition]. //Chicago// //Tribune,// p. 9.B.
 * 8) Navarro, M. (2004, February 19). Instead of dr. ruth, a nurse called sue. //The New York// //Times//.
 * 9) Potter, C. (2003). Rn and sex expert: sue johanson. //American Journal of Nursing,// 103(4), 126-127.
 * 10) Talk Sex Productions. (2002). Sue johanson biography. Retrieved from http://www.talksexwithsue.com/suesbio.html
 * 1) http://www.talksexwithsue.com/suesbio.html
 * 2) http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jJADIjxlFAk/SXSNPzz9RTI/AAAAAAAAEQ8/OgVlSEKnzJs/Sue%20Johanson%20-%20Um%20must.jpg
 * 3) http://blog.thenationalcampaign.org/pregnant_pause/Sue%20Johanson.jpg