I have heard many crazy stories about
scientific research and discoveries from fellow researchers during my PhD days
in IISc and I am so surprised that I did not hear about the research work by
Masters and Johnson. Their research journey was made as a television series
called "Masters of Sex" loosely based on Thomas Maier's biography
"Masters of Sex", and aired between 2013 and 2016. Now it is
available in Amazon prime.
Their research is about wiring up the humans
and record their response during various sexual acts. Crazy huh!! The year was
1957 and US was still a conservative society.
This television series speaks beyond their
research journey and explores how their own life was affected/influenced
because of their research work. It subtly touches upon feminism, homosexuality,
civil rights and Vietnam war. The television series was well made and can keep
you at the edge of the seat many times. The actors did an amazing job. Sets and
cinematography was excellent. It was very well glued with the content. The
television series was fictionalised at few parts to protect the identity of
living persons.
For sure, the research work itself is an
interesting thing to me. You can find how the initial curiosity of Dr. Masters
on "what woman finds pleasure during various sexual acts!!!" led
Masters & Johnson to treat sexual dysfunction couples in their later
career. Then you can notice the two sides of the coin though it is not
explicitly mentioned. On one side, Dr. Masters' obsession on his research work
and his attempts to win his love over Mrs. Johnson. On other side, Mrs.
Johnson's passion to pursue some kind of research work despite of her lack of
qualification and her struggles not to jeopardize her professional life due to
her personal life.
This is purely my opinion. I too believe that
Mrs. Johnson never loved Dr. Masters though they two got married and lived for
20 years. Dr. Masters and Mrs. Johnson were like work-couples.
It is worth watching!!!! Now time to read the
book
I advise you to read the true facts after watching the
television series otherwise you may lose the thrill.
