Virginia+Johnson


 * Zachary A. Rubin**

** Virginia Johnson **

Biography Introduction: Virginia Eshelman Johnson was born on February 11, 1925 and is from Springfield Missouri. She is best known for her work as an American Sexologist and Psychiatrist. Her most acclaimed publication was released in 1966, entitled “Human Sexual response.” She co-authored the book with her then husband, and fellow sexologist, Dr. William Howell Masters. They were pioneers in the field of human sexuality due to their studies of human sexuality in laboratory conditions. They continued work together as prominent sexologists and psychiatrists until their divorce in 1992. Johnson is currently semi-retired, and continues to work independently.

Childhood: Virginia Johnson was the elder of two children, born to Herschel Eshelman and Edna Evans Eshelman. She was born in St. Louis Missouri on February 11, 1925, and Lived in Springfield Missouri until the age of 5. In 1930, her family moved to Palo Alto, California (a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area, and also home to Stanford University). They moved back to Missouri three years later in 1933, and at that point, Johnson was far academically superior to the other children in her class. Among other things, she was a talented musician, and she studied the arts of piano and singing. Her mother was a republican state committeewoman, and she often got to sing for many high level elected officials. “These performances led to a job as a country music singer for radio station KWTO in Springfield, where her stage name was Virginia Gibson.” 1 (Gale, 2006)

Early Education and Career: Virginia Johnson first entered college in 1940 at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri. She never received a diploma, however, after her first year at school, she was offered a job working in the state insurance office. She held the position for four years, later going back to her studies at the University of Missouri. She never received a diploma from there either, and pursed her musical career a bit further, studying at the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, Missouri. She held a few more odd jobs in the 1940’s, including a position as a business writer for the St. Louis Daily Record, and a position on the marketing team for KMOX, a CBS affiliate radio network in the greater St. Louis area. In 1956, she met William Howell Masters at Washington University in St. Louis. She was looking to return to school to pursue a degree in sociology, and applied for a job in the employment office. At the time, Masters was associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, and had requested an assistant to interview volunteers for a research project. He personally chose Johnson, who fitted the need for an outgoing, intelligent, mature woman who was preferably a mother.2 (2001) She began work for Masters, her future husband and professional collaborator, in January 1957.

Professional Career: Johnson is best known for her critically and scientifically acclaimed book, “Human Sexual Response.” The book was co-authored by Masters, and featured results of the studies they conducted at Washington University in St. Louis. The study detailed 694 volunteer participants, and Johnson and Masters observer various aspects of human sexuality. They are credited for ground breaking studies in the areas of sexual stimulation, conception, contraceptives, sexual enjoyment, and the four stages of sexual arousal. One of the revolutionary findings from their research discovered a vaginal secretion in some woman that can prevent conception from happening. They also found the short comings of certain contraceptives, and they found evidence that sexual pleasure does not necessarily decrease with age. Their study used scientific tools including electroencephalography, electrocardiography, and the use of color monitors, tools that have previously not been used to conduct experiments involving sexual activity. The book was released with intentions of being used for medical records and as a tool to help promote further research and scientific studies, but due to the subject matter and the originality of the work, it became a best seller. Johnson and Masters became medical celebrities, appearing on news shows and making numerous other television appearances. With the fame and publicity that came from “Human Sexual Response,” there became heightened public interest in sex therapy. In 1964, Johnson and Masters formed the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation in St. Louis to treat couples with sexual problems. They experienced booming business after the release of their first book, and a few follow up books were released in coming years. In 1970, they released “Human Sexual Inadequacy,” which proposed that sexual dysfunction stems from cultural attitudes rather than physiological or psychological issues. Then in 1975, they wrote “The Pleasure Bond: A New Look at Sexuality and Commitment.” Their third book was less scientifically worded, and directed at the average reader. It embodied relationships with one another for the purpose of bonding sexually. In 1979, the promoted their book, “Homosexuality in Perspective—a 14-year study of more than 300 homosexual men and women—hoping to build on their groundbreaking sex studies of heterosexuals that had helped ignite America's sexual revolution.”3 (Maier, 2009) They attempted to help “cure” people of their homosexuality, and treated them with astonishing success rates. They believed that after the study and after a five year follow up period, their success rate for men and women was higher than 70 percent. Johnson, however, citing suspicions of Masters techniques including possible fraudulent reports, stated that it was a bad book. She kept to herself, however, because she wanted to avoid public scrutiny and to support her husband. Their final work together came in 1988, entitled, “Crisis: Heterosexual behavior in the age of AIDS.” The book, co-authored by Robert Kolodny, received even more criticism, as it inaccurately detailed the AIDS epidemic, and even suggested that it is possible to contact HIV from a public toilet seat.

Personal Life: In the early 1940s, Johnson was first married to a Missouri Politician. That marriage, however, only lasted for 2 days. Again in the 1940s, she had a very short lived marriage to an attorney. Then on June 13, 1950, she married George V. Johnson, with whom she had her two children, Scott Forstall and Lisa Evans. Like her other marriages, it again ended in divorce in 1956. She remained unmarried until well into her career researching sexuality with Masters. In 1971, Masters divorced his first wife in favor of Johnson, and the two were married on January 7, 1971 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “After marrying, Johnson and Masters continued their professional alliance, cofounding the Masters and Johnson Institute in 1973. Johnson oversaw daily operations, while Masters concentrated on scientific research.”4(Oakes, 2001) However in 1992, Johnson and Masters marriage ended in divorce, and Masters passed away in 2001. Johnson and Masters can be seen featured on the St. Louis Walk of fame today.5 (2008)

1. http://www.bookrags.com/biography/virginia-eshelman-johnson-soc/ 2. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000517/?tag=content;col1 3. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=homosexuality-cure-masters-johnson 4. http://informazone.co.cc/virginia-e-johnson-the-sex-therapist-and-psychologist/ 5. http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/masters-johnson.html