William Masters

William Howell Masters (1915–2001) was an American gynecologist who studied human sexual response with Virginia Johnson and helped establish sex therapy.

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Virginia Johnson: Virginia Johnson was an American sex researcher and therapist who collaborated with William Masters. She co-led the research and clinical work that defined Masters’s career.
Human sexual response cycle: The sequence of physiological changes associated with sexual activity, classically described in phases by Masters and Johnson. Their observations supplied the evidence for this influential phase model.
Human Sexual Response: Human Sexual Response is a 1966 book by William Masters and Virginia Johnson presenting their laboratory findings on sexual physiology. This landmark publication reported the research most closely associated with Masters.
Sexual dysfunction: Sexual dysfunction is persistent difficulty in sexual response or activity that causes distress or impairment. Treating these problems became a major practical outcome of Masters’s work.
Helen Singer Kaplan: Helen Singer Kaplan was an American psychiatrist and sex therapist who developed a distinct, psychodynamic approach to sexual dysfunction. Her later clinical model differed from the Masters and Johnson approach.
Plethysmography: Plethysmography measures changes in volume or blood flow in a body part or organ. Genital measurements helped quantify physiological responses during laboratory studies.
Sexual Inadequacy: Sexual Inadequacy is a 1970 book by Masters and Johnson describing assessment and treatment of sexual dysfunction. It set out their clinical method for applying research to sexual difficulties.
Homosexuality: Homosexuality is romantic, sexual, or emotional attraction between people of the same sex. Masters and Johnson’s attempted conversion treatment became a consequential and widely criticized part of their legacy.
Alfred Kinsey: Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist whose interviews and surveys documented patterns of human sexual behavior. His population research preceded Masters’s laboratory study of sexual physiology.
Electrocardiography: Electrocardiography records the heart’s electrical activity over time. Heart-rate and cardiovascular measures complemented their observations of sexual arousal.