Bill and Virginia. See what "Masters William" is in other dictionaries. Various aspects of sexuality. Some definitions

When I heard this story, I felt it was my duty to tell it to you! They appeared in the middle of the 20th century, in America, when they talked about sex in a whisper, and it was forbidden to say the word “pregnancy” on TV. This couple made as much noise with their experiments as, perhaps, no one else in the world of sex.

Dr. Bill Masters was the star of the medical university department of gynecology in the city of St. Louis. His catchphrase was: "I guarantee you will have a baby!" In the fifties, he saved the lives of women after miscarriages and unsuccessful abortions and helped completely hopeless couples get pregnant, being one of the first who began to practice artificial insemination. But once Masters was not enough treatment for patients. He wanted to do research work, and for this he needed a faithful assistant ... or assistant.

Virginia Johnson was hired right at the interview. Masters told her in detail that he wanted to do practical research on what had previously been studied only in laboratories -. The first attempts to somehow understand the female orgasm were made in a brothel. For a year, the brothel became the doctor's main working platform, where he could watch the intercourse of a prostitute and a client through a hole in the wall. But this practice has generated some questions and brought zero answers. Masters realized that women most often fake orgasms, and now he needed to figure out how to distinguish a real orgasm from a theatrical one.

Thanks to the sociability of Virginia Johnson, who easily got to know people and was not embarrassed by suggesting that they go to the doctor's experiment, the couple quickly found volunteers. The essence of the study was that women came to Masters' office and masturbated. Wires were glued to their body, with the help of which it was possible to measure the subject's body temperature, pulse and other indicators that jump during arousal. But Masters went further - five years later he managed to make a dildo, in which a tiny lens was placed, so the doctor was the first to capture a female vaginal orgasm on camera! In fact, it was an ordinary contraction of the muscles of the vagina, which at that time was the greatest breakthrough. When Masters shared his findings with colleagues, it turned out that America was not ready for such a breakthrough - he was immediately asked to leave his position and university and take his assistant with him.

In the sixties, Virginia and Bill have long been lovers, but their main brainchild - the center of reproductive biological research, has become a real success. Like Masters' book Human Sexual Responses, it sold out in a matter of weeks. In the sixties and seventies, this couple was invited to various programs, talk shows, and in 1970 they appeared on the cover of Time.

Beautiful women in elegant dresses, makeup and high heels (long extinct in America like dinosaurs), intrigue, suspense, love and sex, nostalgic pictures of the academic world in the late 1950s and 60s, in its golden age when professors were respected and rich people , and even a bit of science - all this you will find in the series "Masters of Sex", a new project whose name is a play on words: on the one hand, it can be translated as "Masters of Sex", and on the other hand, William Masters was a real person, a gynecologist, who, together with his assistant Virginia Johnson, who eventually became his friend and wife, pioneered the nature of the human sexual response.

✷ Virginia Johnson and William Masters as they were in life

Based on their results, they proposed the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders. Now what they have done is commonplace. But then, in 1957, it was a breakthrough in medical science. The camera and many sensors for measurements, as well as the measurement technique, they came up with themselves. The series is based on the 2009 book of the same name by their biographer Thomas Mayer.

✷ Many years later, when they became famous, they were on the cover of the Times.

The work of Masters and Johnson essentially continued what had been started by Dr. Kinsey, a pioneer in sex research, who in the 1930s and 40s interviewed thousands of men and women about their sexual experiences and published two seminal books on his findings: in 1948 year and 1953 (Sexual behavior of men and women, respectively). These books created an earthquake in American society at the time. Kinsey was a theoretical biologist and did not perform any experiments. But Masters was a practicing gynecologist, and a born experimenter.

✷ And this is what they look like in the show. In the center is Michael Sheen playing the role of William Masters, on the left is Lizzy Caplan as Virginie Johnson. On the right is Masters' first wife (according to the film)

When Masters and Johnson began their work, the vast majority of physicians believed that the physiology of sex was not a proper subject for scientific study. According to Masters, this attitude only perpetuated the taboos and fears that led to sexual dysfunctions that were virtually incurable at the time. "It robs people of joy," he said.

Masters firmly believed that his project would not be successful unless a woman was involved, from beginning to end. In 1956, he hired Virginia Johnson, a divorced and unemployed mother of two. She didn't even graduate from college, where she studied psychology. After her first marriage, she became a singer and performed with an orchestra conducted by George Johnson, her first husband.
According to the biography written by Thomas Mayer and the TV series, they did some of the experiments on themselves, but I did not find this on Wikipedia.

The Masters-Johnson program took many years and was funded by the National Institute of Health, something (mutely and not early on) tossed the University of Washington in St. Louis, where the work was carried out. According to the film, Masters put some of the money out of his own pocket.

Masters and Johnson published the results of their research in 1966 in the book "Human Sexual Responses," intended for medical professionals and written in dry professional language. It, however, became a bestseller, as did their next book, Human Sexual Dysfunctions. These writings essentially created the discipline now called sexology, laid the foundations of sex therapy, and led to a change in attitudes towards sexual behavior, which, as they believed it should be joyful for both men and women.

In the series, there are psychological actors, and drama, and different types, from the vice-rector to the nurse. (I'm so enticing; actually only watched the last two episodes ☺ ☺)…

and Johnson Virginia

Amer. scientists who carried out in the 60s of the XX century. several fundamental, studies on the statistics and physiology of human sexual function. Ancestors of the system approach in sexology.

(Source: Dictionary of Sexual Terms)

See what "Masters William" is in other dictionaries:

Amer. scientists who carried out in the 60s of the XX century. several fundamental, studies on the statistics and physiology of human sexual function. Ancestors of the system approach in sexology. (Source: Sosnovsky A.V., "Lexicon of Sex". Dictionary ... ... Sexological Encyclopedia

- (Masters) William Howell (b. 1915), a physician who, along with his wife, psychologist Virginia, née Johnson (b. 1925), became famous for creating a laboratory for studying the physiology and anatomy of human sexual activity. Together they gave... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

- (b. 1915), American obstetrician, gynecologist, sexologist. Scientific works on infertility, geriatric endocrinology, homosexuality. Since 1957, researches in sexology together with V. Johnson (since 1971 - Masters' wife). Unique work on ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Masters W.H.- MÁSTERS (Masters) William Howell (b. 1915), Amer. obstetrician gynecologist, sexologist. Scientific tr. on infertility, geriatric. endocrinology, homosexuality. Since 1957 research. in sexology joint. with V. Johnson (since 1971 - wife of M.). Unique work on ... ... Biographical Dictionary

Chris Mordetsky Ring Names: Chris Masters Chris Mordetsky Chris Moore General Info Billed Height: 193 cm ... Wikipedia

Italian Open Location Rome Italy Website ... Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles on other people with this last name, see Hewitt. Bob Hewitt Citizenship ... Wikipedia

Contents 1 List of winners of the Wimbledon tournament among men in doubles ... Wikipedia

British literary award founded in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded for the best work of fiction, which can be written in any form: either prose or poetry. The Hawthorne Prize is awarded ... ... Wikipedia

Coordinates: Coordinates ... Wikipedia

Books

• Sex masters. The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America to Love, Thomas Meyer. 1957, the sexual revolution has not yet swept America, before the filming of "Sex and the City" 40 years: gynecologist William Masters and his assistant Virginia Johnson begin an exciting ...

In 2013, the drama television series "Masters of Sex" was released. This show is based on the biography book of the same name that tells the story of Dr. William Masters and his assistant, Virginia Johnson. They were among the first researchers of human sexuality. One of their main achievements is the definition of the cycle of human sexual reactions, that is, the combination of physiological and emotional changes that lead to the onset of orgasm.

The series consists of 12 episodes. The fifties are shown. Mr. Masters is depicted as an anal-muscular soundman, an excellent gynecological surgeon. For 20 years he has nurtured the idea of ​​researching human sexuality. He believes that people have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be afraid of, sex can and should be studied.

Masters' main professional activity is related to the treatment of infertility. Ironically, his wife has trouble conceiving a child. In fact, the reason is not at all in her, but in Masters himself, but he carefully hides this from her. For two years he has been trying to treat his wife in every possible way, they practically do not sleep with each other. Insemination takes place in the hospital.

The wife is shown skin-visual. A kind of innocent touchy who knows little about seduction and cannot arouse passion in her husband. She herself feels it, but when she tries to bring something new into their intimate life, her husband is frightened of this. For him, her image is clean, bright, and nothing should spoil it, even an innocent peeping or striptease.

I must say that William is experiencing problems in relations with his mother. The vector set of the mother in the series is shown to be the same as that of William himself. His resentment towards his mother is connected with the beatings from his father, to which he was invariably subjected in childhood. His mother knew about it, but she was silent and never tried to stop his father. Hence the tension in William's relationship with the female sex.

When William begins secretly planning his research, he seeks out a secretary. Next to the Masters is a pretty Virginia Johnson... A lady without education, but with intellect, two children, a job as a cabaret singer and three marriages behind her back.

Virginia is shown as skin-visual, and her skin-visual actress is playing. There is a hint that this is not just some woman - this is a woman with brains, this woman is sexually liberated, not embarrassed by her body. The one who is able to enjoy in sexual relations. She seeks to make a sexual revolution, to show that a woman is also able to enjoy sex, experience an orgasm. Orgasm is not only the privilege of a man.

While doing research, Masters and Johnson become intimate...

Masters is trying to find a scientific approach to sex, but the series repeatedly shows, and it is absolutely obvious to most women, but not to William, that the attraction is influenced by the initial physical attractiveness of the partner, some kind of affection, pheromones that are objectively impossible to measure.

In this experiment, people met right in the room, where they had to have sex with each other a few minutes later. Some men reacted badly to new partners. Some failed to produce coitus if a different partner came than they expected.

Also in their studies, Masters and Johnson used video recording, for example, filming the contraction of the vaginal muscles. It was a scandal!

When you watch the series, you understand that the producer of the series is a woman. The series deals with a lot of emotions, feelings. Skin-visual heroines are beautifully shown. The medical world of that time is also very well shown. Doctors (of course, with an anal vector), which others look into their mouths. Around them are skin-visual nurses, secretaries, who, if they do not become wives, are content with the roles of their mistresses.

The series, created on the basis of the story of Masters and Johnson, seems to be not even very systemic, but the main actors play themselves. In the series, Virginia is depicted precisely as a skin-visual one. And was it really so? Since the series is based on a book, which in turn is at least partly based on real events, it occurred to me to look at who William Masters and Virginia Johnson were.

When I began to study them, I saw that Virginia Johnson, of course, was not just a skin-visual, Virginia had both sound and anal vectors. She has a rather interesting life story, she studied at the conservatory. Her career was interrupted by World War II. In 1951, Jeannie Johnson met William Masters and became his laboratory assistant at the University of Washington.

For her sake, William divorced his first wife, together with Virginia, they studied sexuality for almost 20 years. As a result of their research, Masters and Johnson developed a four-phase model of physiological and emotional responses during sexual stimulation. In the studies, they used various tools to track changes in heart rate, muscle tension. These phases are the arousal phase, the plateau phase, the orgasm phase, and the completion phase. They described and specified the changes characteristic of each of these phases.

Revolutionary Research Masters and Johnson

Like any other science, sexology began with speculative general theories. The main task of sexology in the 1940s-1960s was to overcome dilettantism and to accumulate reliable, carefully verified scientific facts. But how to do this, whom to subject to such experiments? And how will the public react to this?

Many specialists have tried to study human sexuality within a strict scientific specialization. This monodisciplinary approach has produced brilliant results in various fields. Genetics has developed methods for determining chromosomal sex. Many genetic anomalies and the determination of sexual differentiation have been studied and described.

It became more clear how gender affects people's sexual behavior. Endocrinologists have learned to measure the level of sex hormones and their effect on the sexual differentiation of the body. Neuroscientists have found that sexual differentiation affects not only the reproductive system of the body, but also the brain.

Prior to Masters and Johnson, sexological clinical practice tended to deal with loners. Doctors treated men for impotence and women for frigidity, gave advice on sexual issues, but the sexual partner of the patient or patient was involved only sporadically. Doctors knew how sexual intercourse actually occurs and what are the mutual psychophysiological reactions of partners only from the stories of acquaintances and from their own experience, but no one has conducted such studies. It would be truly scandalous.

Because of this, William Masters and Virginia Johnson's The Human Sexual Response (1966) was truly revolutionary.

Masters and Johnson began by asking their friends and university colleagues to refer people who were willing to participate in the study of human sexuality. What exactly and how will be investigated was not specified. The 1,300 volunteers who came were interviewed in detail about their sex life.

After a medical examination, about 800 men and women were selected, half of whom were married couples, others were not married. They were allowed to get used to the laboratory environment, were introduced to the functions of all the devices, after which the selected couples performed a series of sexual acts. All their physiological reactions and condition (blood pressure, skin reactions, swelling of the genitals, nipples, etc.) were carefully and objectively recorded.

In total, Masters and Johnson observed more than 10,000 sexual acts. Although the laboratory conditions affected the sexual responses of the subjects (men had more violations than women), the results were extremely important.

Masters and Johnson for the first time objectively described the main phases of the copulatory cycle and the features of their course in men and women. In addition, the knowledge of the physiology of the female orgasm (in particular, which muscles are involved in it) has been significantly enriched. They studied different types of female orgasm, studied the assumption of Sigmund Freud that a woman learns to get a clitoral orgasm as a teenager, and with a partner this ability develops into the ability to experience a vaginal orgasm. If this does not happen, we can talk about the frigidity of a woman.

From the point of view of the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, we understand that the clitoral orgasm is primarily the privilege of a woman with a skin vector, as well as the fact that sexuality is different in the four lower vectors and forms different variations depending on the combination of vectors, their states, the degree of disclosure of a woman, etc.

Masters and Johnson were the first to conduct research on the sexual sensitivity of the elderly, noting that with an interested partner and no health problems, there is no age to stop sexual activity.

Research into the anatomy and physiology of sexual response has provided a springboard for the development of a clinical approach to the treatment of sexual problems.

Masters and Johnson laid the foundation for numerous experimental studies of individual physiological parameters of sexual reactions (pulse, blood pressure, electrocardiograms, encephalograms, etc.). Of great practical importance were the principles of paired sex therapy developed by Masters and Johnson and adopted in most clinics in the world, which facilitates the mutual adaptation of a couple.

Masters and Johnson worked together for 36 years. They studied homosexuality, tried to develop a method for treating homosexuals. After 36 years, they decided to leave and stop both personal and professional contact.
Meanwhile, Showtime has given the nod to a second season of Masters of Sex. The premiere will take place in July 2014.

In fact, women do not know as much about men as they imagine. For many centuries they have striven to excel in a special art of adapting to them. But adapting to men does not mean understanding them. Women are often mistaken in thinking that a man's life is easy enough, at least compared to a woman's lot, and have no idea of ​​the complex internal struggle that goes on during the transformation of a naive boy into a mature man. They do not imagine what a long and difficult path a boy and a man must go through, who must separate from his own, irreplaceable, caring mother and embark on a path of trials that is completely different from the one she has traveled, where it is no longer possible to use either maternal experience or advice. . From this point of view, it can be noted that the girl should strive to be like her mother, while the boy should learn to be different from her. At the same time, such a difference should not spoil his life, turning into antagonism or fear. Unfortunately, today Western culture is in such a state that it often becomes difficult to avoid this disastrous result, despite the obvious social consequences that follow from it.

This is why the Jungian insight approach is so useful in explaining the never-ending conflict between men and women. Johnson very well explains this eternal "war of the sexes" with a very simple but skillful interpretation of ancient myths (in our case, the myth of Parsifal).

To the uninitiated reader, a book that interprets medieval myth in a modern way may seem didactic and stupid. This is not true! Johnson has a rare combination of discursiveness and captivating simplicity of style, and his clear exposition of the Jungian concepts necessary to explain his approach penetrates the fabric of the text without much difficulty. The deep meaning of the novel lies precisely in its vagueness, and I am absolutely sure that most readers will not put the book down without reading it to the end. But, having finished reading, you can be sure that you remember it very well, and from time to time you will be drawn to return to it, as it attracts something very close to you, and with each next reading you will have more and more insights.

In other words, I highly recommend reading this book. It will entertain you, inform you, awaken your thinking, because it is mysterious and at the same time poetic. Men who read it will certainly learn more about themselves, and women, especially those who, unfortunately, still see men as “enemies”, will be helped to look at them with different eyes.

Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse teacher of psychiatry

Harvard University

Introduction to the story of the Sacred Chalice

For primitive people, mythology was sacred, as if the human soul was contained in archaic myths. The life of primitive man originates and develops in the mythological cradle, therefore the death of mythology means the destruction of human life and the human spirit, as happened with the myths of the American Indians.

However, for most of our contemporaries, the word "myth" has become synonymous with the words "fiction" and "illusion". Such confusion arose due to the false idea that myths were born in the process of naive attempts of ancient man to explain various natural phenomena, in which science succeeded much more. But now some psychologists and anthropologists are helping us to see the myth in a completely different light and understand that it reflects the deep psychological and spiritual processes inherent in the human psyche. First of all, we should mention C. G. Jung, who in his concept of the collective unconscious emphasized that myths are spontaneous manifestations of the psychological and spiritual truth hidden in the unconscious. According to Jung, myths contain a deep meaning for every person, because in the form of a story, “archetypal” content emerges in them, that is, universal and reliable pictures of life.

Myth has the same relation to all mankind as a dream has to an individual. A dream conveys to a person an important and necessary psychological truth about himself. The myth reveals an important psychological truth about humanity as a whole. A person who understands dreams understands himself better. A person who comprehends the inner meaning of a myth comes into contact with the universal spiritual questions that life puts before him.

It is likely that among all Western myths about a man, the story of the Holy Grail is unique. Based on pagan and early Christian motifs, the myth of the Sacred Chalice finally took shape by the 12th-13th centuries. Different versions of it appeared almost simultaneously in France, England, Wales and some other European countries, as if the life hidden in the depths suddenly broke into the light. The Christian content of this myth, its latest version and its roots in European soil, give it a special significance in the context of Western spiritual culture.

The basis for this book was a course of lectures on the Sacred Cup given by Robert Johnson at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the spring of 1969. His interpretation of the myth is based on the principles of the Jungian concept. It seems to me that it makes sense to dwell briefly on the most essential aspects of Jung's concept.

The main idea of ​​Jungian psychology is the process of individuation. Individuation takes place throughout life; following this process, a person is constantly approaching the ideal integral personality, determined by God's providence. This approach consists in the gradual expansion of human consciousness and the growing ability of the conscious personality to the maximum reflection of its self. By Ego we mean the center of our consciousness, the Self within us, that part of us with which we have consciously identified. We call the Self the whole personality structure, the potential personality that is within us from the moment of birth and is looking for any opportunity to discover and manifest itself through the medium of the Ego throughout human life.

The process of individuation involves a person in a circle of very serious psychological and spiritual problems. A very difficult problem is the beginning of reconciliation with one's own shadow - a dark, rejected and even dangerous part of the personality that comes into conflict with conscious attitudes and ideals. Each of us, wishing to achieve integrity, must somehow find a common language with the shadow. The rejection of the shadow side of the personality leads to its splitting and constant conflict between consciousness and the unconscious. Acceptance and integration of the shadow side of the personality is always a difficult and painful process, which nevertheless necessarily leads to the establishment of psychological balance and harmony, otherwise completely unattainable.

An even more difficult task for a man is the integration of an element of unconscious femininity, and for a woman - masculinity. One of Jung's most valuable discoveries - androgyny - is a combination of masculinity and femininity in a person. But, as a rule, having identified with his masculinity, a man, so to speak, hides his femininity deep inside, and a woman, accordingly, does the same with her inner masculinity. Jung called this inner woman, existing in a man, anima, and the man, existing inside a woman, animus.

The integration of a man with his femininity is a complex and psychologically delicate issue. Until this process is completed, a man should not hope to be able to penetrate the secret of his self. The legend of the Sacred Cup appeared at the very historical moment when a man began to realize his femininity in a new way. This story tells, first of all, about the difficult but necessary struggle that takes place in a man in the process of realizing his inner femininity and establishing contact with it. It follows that the legend of the Sacred Chalice is primarily a story about the process of male individuation. A man reading this book can find in it key points of reference in the development of his own personality, corresponding to the main points in the development of the storyline of the legend. Since a woman has to live with a man, she, too, may develop a certain interest in the hidden meaning of the legend of the Sacred Chalice, since to understand it means to understand a man at critical moments in his life.