"Masters of Sex" (2009 Biography; 2013 TV Series) & "BONK: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex" (2008)

Way back in the 1950s — before people tweeted snapshots of their privates or posted their hookups  online — it was considered inappropriate to talk too much about sex. The guardians of culture treated it as something better kept in the dark. Two pioneers who helped bring sexuality into the light were William Masters and (colleague turned wife) Virginia Johnson, who became perhaps the '60s' unlikeliest icons. Following in the footsteps of Alfred Kinsey, who shocked America with his reports on what people actually did in the bedroom, this odd couple's trailblazing research showed what was happening to people's bodies when they did it. Their partnership is the subject of a new Showtime series, Masters of Sex.

Created by Screenwriter and Film Producer Michelle Ashford (best known for her Emmy Nominated Writing for the 2010 Miniseries The Pacific) the show (which airs Sunday nights at 10pm) has a Mad Men sort of vibe to it, and explores the early relationship of these groundbreaking researchers. It documents their discoveries based on Thomas Maier's 2009 biography "Masters of Sex", available at PML (306.7092 MAI).  Johnson, who died recently, met Masters when she was a researcher for him at Washington University in St. Louis in the 1950s. Masters, who died in 2001, was a physician at the university and had begun researching sex in 1954.

British actor Michael Sheen (of Frost/Nixon, The Queen, & Midnight in Paris – all available in the PML media collection and HIGHLY recommended) who plays Masters, said he was drawn to both the complexity of his character and the subject matter of researching sexual behavior at a time when talk of sex publicly was considered taboo. "(Masters) is sort of a mystery to himself. He has so many locked rooms inside himself and he has to tread very carefully to make sure he controls his environment."

Comments  are welcome by fans of the new series or the Maier biography!

Those interested in (the lighter side of) the subject, should check out: “Bonk : the curious coupling of science and sex” by author and columnist Mary Roach. “The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been going on for centuries, behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, Alfred Kinsey's attic, and, more recently, MRI centers, pig farms, and sex-toy R&D labs. I spent two years wheedling and conniving my way behind those doors to bring you the answers to the questions Dr. Ruth never asked. Is your penis three inches longer than you think? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Can a dead man get an erection? Why doesn't Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas?”  http://www.maryroach.net/