William Masters and Virginia Johnson embarked on a sexual research journey in the 1950′s when very few others dared to whisper the word. Not only did they make great contributions to the field of sexology they also debunked a lot of myths along the way. If that wasn’t revolutionary enough, their approach was also unique – they observed hundreds of volunteers and tens of thousands of orgasms to formulate their scientific conclusions. They even used a vibrator with a camera implanted, playfully named Ulysses, to view and understand what happens inside of a women’s body during climax – pretty impressive.This fall, Showtime is debuting a show chronicling their lives and research titled Masters of Sex – be sure to tune in.
Here are some of Masters and Johnson’s most important findings:
Sex has different stages
Masters and Johnson identified the biological process that occurs during sex – they refer to it as the human sexual response cycle. This has since been slightly modified, but they identified 4 stages: excitement phase, plateau phase, orgasmic phase and resolution phase. While the physical details differ, men and women experience the same phases.
Women can experience multiple orgasms
Masters and Johnson proved that women do not experience the refractory period post orgasm that men do. Meaning, the can climax again and again.
Penis size doesn’t matter
According to Masters and Johnson, the vagina adapts to the size of the penis when aroused – so a mans size, length and/or girth, should not have an affect on female pleasure.
