Customer Reviews

Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Clearly, as Thomas Maier shows, that was the case in the marriage of William Masters and Virginia Johnson. It's not just that a quasi-forcible sexual relationship devolved into a quasi-loveless marriage. It's that Gini Johnson, for all her sexuality, never thought of looking outside the marriage, apparently. It's that Bill Masters apparently, until his end-of-life marriage to a college flame, couldn't be with a woman unless he could dominate her.

In a sense, they both, despite their groundbreaking research on sexuality, come off as old-fashioned, not on morals, but on personal psychology. With Masters, I think that "informed" some of his unscientific work on homosexuality. With Johnson, I think it was behind her refusal to get involved with feminism.

Anyway, if you don't want to accept just my judgment for this, Maier presents a full dual biography of both sex researchers, back to their childhoods, and what from that may have made them tick the way they did as adults.

I do have a bone to pick, though, with either him or his publisher, per the title of my review and the subtitle of the book. Masters and Johnson, while encouraging Americans to be more comfortable about their sexuality, only taught Americans indirectly how to love. They may have taught them how to "make love," but that's different.

And, you can see that in Maier's book, too.

While a graduate student at Ohio State, I was pursuing the path of becoming a sex therapist. As part of that, I attended a workshop sponsored by Masters and Johnson in Chicago. Prior to the workshop in Chicago, I met them at Ohio State. I was profoundly impressed with their insight and therapeutic skills. Within the literature, there have been so many false conjectures regarding their work; it is difficult to sort out reality from false rumor. Because of a series of letters I have in my files, I have concluded that the major events described in this biography are accurate.

The biography is packed with two profound paradoxes that should have a major impact the development, testing and construction of social science theory - but probably won't - we tend to make the same mistakes in our history rather than learning from our errors.

First, in my academic background I found theory construction be to paradoxical. In theory construction, we learned that devotion to a theory produces a blinder that can prohibit the researcher from identifying more meaningful explanations. In quantitative research, we are taught to begin with a hypothesis that emerges from a theory to avoid "type I errors." Masters was trained in traditional quantitative science and his world view was contaminated by theory (particularly Freudian theory). Because of her lack of formal education, Johnson (probably with greater innate intelligence than Masters) had NO academic world view. Her vision of sexology has no theoretical limitations. She was able to envision sexuality in a manner that was theoretically unparalleled. She, with the assistance of Masters's knowledge of science, was able to institute a major paradigm shift in sexology. Johnson's lack of academic training enabled her to guide Masters to employ his academic creditability to reshape our thinking. It is ironic that the chauvinism from the 1940's (which denied Johnson educational opportunities) was the catalyst for our current world view of sexuality.

Second, the relationship that created the emotional/intellectual bond between Masters and Johnson built AND destroyed our sexuality knowledge base. Both Masters and Johnson were victims of unrequited love. As a consequence, their bond was a marriage of convenience. At age 76, Masters divorced Johnson to marry his childhood sweetheart, while Johnson's desires were smashed by the death of her young love. Masters emotional betrayal of Johnson became the catalyst for the major intellectual tragedy of the 20th century - Johnson destroyed decades of unpublished cutting edge research. The sexology community was devastated.

The entire book is reminiscent of the Shakespearean Tragedy

Footnotes:
1) I never liked talking to Masters. Although he had a kind and gentle voice, his eyes were sterile and piercing. I never understood how he could be a GREAT therapist. Here again Johnson saved him. Unknown to most people, he had an eye disorder that produced the piercing characteristic. According to the author, he had it surgically altered - but never was able to achieve an emphatic expression.

2) Maier addressed the famous article in PSYCHOLOGY TODAY. After I read this article, I immediately wrote Clive Davis the editor of THE JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH and insisted that he ask Masters and Johnson to write a rebuttal. In the next issue of JSR, Kolodny provided the scientific rebuttal. For the past 30 years, I have been using this material as an example of external validity.

I'm old enough to remember hearing the names Masters & Johnson when I was a teen, but too young to really understand how this couple dragged Americans into the sexual revolution. But being a sex therapist, I was very interested in learning more about the legacy of this couple. The author did a good job of bringing them to life--and what a strange life it was. In a way, the book brings up more questions than answers. But I think that's okay, as no one can ever really understand another couple's marriage from the outside. The author also did a good job of describing research about sex in a way that was non-titillating. I enjoyed this book.

Trained as a sex therapist by Masters and Johnson, having served on staff at their clinic and, as the only African American so trained, I
learned a lot about Masters and Johnson from Maier's well documented book. I learned of sea-changes that took place after I had left their clinic. Maier traces the fissure in their relationship, following through on a period of retrenchment on certain ethical stands they had taken earlier in their career, losing each other's trust in the process and, eventually going their separate ways. Maier never loses sight of the human element as he sketches their personal stories on a broad canvass - starting with an American psycho-socio-political backdrop in flux; from a period in time when nudity was equated with pornography to recognition of the pioneer work of M&J in documenting the human sexual response cycle - to their two-week course of treatment (sex therapy) for sexual dysfunction and disorders.

This book arrived quickly and was just as described. It was a very thorough biography of famed sex-researchers Masters and Johnson. It didn't sugarcoat the bad parts, like the failure of two of their books or the sex surrogates they employed and it didn't dwell on them either. The author did a great job at reporting the facts and not editorializing, which is difficult, given the controversial subject matter. It was an accurately told story. They really did feel like real people, with a real story. I guess this review is more a review of this book, than it is of Masters and Johnson. I'd recommend this book.

I ordered the audiobook version and the narrator's voice was very pleasant. Sometimes the book is great, but the narrator on the audiobook isn't. This wasn't the case. She did an excellent job and I'd highly recommend this book or audiobook to anyone who's interested in learning more about Masters and Johnson, sex research or sex therapy.

Their lives were a period piece. Their work would have had no other relevancy but during post war America. Masters was a pioneer in this medical field and Johnson a pioneer in her field of therapy. They were ahead of their time in taking a female inclusive approach to sex therapy. How would the sexual revolution have evolved without this staid Midwestern couple giving couples a means to discuss and/or improve their sex life?

At the end of the book we realize that besides their 1950's lab techniques, the necessary secretiveness of their work and their reluctance to franchise, they, themselves, were of this time as well. While the author doesn't speculate, besides Masters' deterioration with age, deeply rooted values probably affected his later work on homosexuality and AIDS. The norms of their youth and childhoods certainly informed both their attitudes towards each other.

The book is a great read, you can't put it down. I gave it 4 not 5 stars because there are some significant missing pieces in Johnson's portrait. While Masters' family life is well covered, Johnson's is vague. (How did she/someone else raise her children? "Uncle" Larry, whose death upsets her children had been mentioned only once.) Before and after the divorce, what was the actual governance/ownership of the institute, the copyrights and all the property associated with the partnership? Maier writes that Johnson lost heavily, but how is not clear. She has the very valuable tapes, which implies significant ownership.

The portrait of Virginia Johnson is so provocative it calls for more. Perhaps, someone can build on this and may get also get her cooperation, as had Maier.

Thomas Maier has successfully brought to life the lives of two of the more important figures in the history of scientific investigation of human sexual behavior in a manner that would doubtless have made the subjects of this biography giggle in retrospect. MASTERS OF SEX is a well written, solidly researched ('based on interviews, Masters' unpublished memoir, and clinic documents') near exposé of the fascinating lives of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two creative thinkers who disrupted their private lives to engage the country in a mass retrieval of sexual behavior, characteristics, follies, fantasies and abuses that lead to their magnum opus HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE.

By detailing the investigating techniques and the manner in which the couple drew throngs of eager workers to carry out their detailed questionnaires distributed throughout the country makes for reading that is peppered with borderline taste and daring and makes a book about 'scientific investigation' as fun to read as a plain wrapper novel! But the end result in reading this lengthy book is best tied to the subtitle of Maier's choice - 'The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love'. For all the dalliances Maier takes in uncovering the skills of his workers and the rather rocky life patterns of the subjects of this biography, he still convinces the reader that the work by these two strange but important people truly altered the way we have grown into examining sexuality today. Without their work we may have still been in the Victorian era! Well written and always entertaining, this is a book from which we learn, and a book we enjoy as a bit of a racy novel. Grady Harp, September 09

I agreed to review the book because I'm interested in both psychology and biography, and Masters of Sex combines the topics.

Masters of Sex is extremely well-written and easy to follow. It's meticulously researched - apparently the definitive biography of a pair of iconic researchers.

I'm not surprised that reviewers seem to be drawn from the community of psychology, specially sex therapists. The book will have greatest appeal to specialists who will enjoy getting detailed background on research they have studied academically.

They may also speculate on the ironies related to the research. Masters apparently epitomized the cliche of the cold fish. Johnson was warm but she was also lucky; she apparently became involved almost by accident, assuming an integral role over the years. She was in the right place at the right time. A professional woman at the clinic suggested that Virginia Johnson might feel defensive because she lacked training and professional degrees.

As a lay person, reading out of recreational rather than professional interest, I found the book excellent but somewhat overwhelming. The book is rather long: almost 400 pages with detailed quotes to support every point. The book goes into great depth to tell two stories: the troubled relationship of Masters and Johnson and the introduction of these formerly taboo topics into mainstream culture. I can see this book as part of required reading for courses in topics like Sociology of Sex...courses that wouldn't exist if this decidedly odd couple hadn't paved the way.

The work of William Masters and Virginia Johnson examined and explained many of the physiological mysteries of sex in the 20th century. Masters and Johnson were in many ways, an unlikely pair to document the human sexual response: the reserved doctor and the vivacious research assistant didn't, on the face of it, have much in common. By using a blend of scientific method and intuition, Masters and Johnson were able to explore the challenging, and often taboo areas of human sexuality. Fifty years later, their work still occupies centre stage.

But who were Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson? Who were the people behind the headlines? What equipped them to explore this territory, and why did they want to do so? How did they tackle the problems posed by sexual dysfunction, and what was the success of their treatments? In this book, Mr Maier sheds light on both the public team of Masters and Johnson and their personal lives. Mr Maier's book is a sensitively written exploration of their lives, times and work. Each brought different life experiences, skills and strengths to their work. Masters may have had the formal qualifications and professional contacts and standing, but Johnson's intuition and people skills made the research possible. In some ways and at a personal level, the lives of Masters and Johnson seemed incomplete. Their partnerships both with each other and with others did not endure.

I read this book to try to understand the individuals behind the work. In the process, I learned more about their work than I had previously known, and have an appreciation of the barriers they faced at the time. Mr Maier sheds light on the life and work of Virginia Johnson and Bill Masters while also acknowledging that their partnership was not perfect.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is one of those books you pick up and you don't put it down until you have finished it. And when you do finish it, you look back at the chapters at the beginning and read again pieces here and there still enjoying every bit. It makes you identify with its characters like a novel, it keeps you on your tip toes like a thriller and it makes you feel part of a piece of recent history like if you were in it at some point.
It makes you appreciate once more how certain things can only happen in certain periods of history and how far we are now, in all respects, from those culturally vibrant years which were the 60s and 70s.
Congrats to the author.