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Masters & Johnson Institute

research institute, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Also known as: Reproductive Biology Research Foundation

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The Masters & Johnson Institute, originally the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation, was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1964 by William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson. This research institute was a pioneer in the study of human sexuality and sex therapy. Masters, a gynecologist, and Johnson, a sex therapist, conducted groundbreaking research on the physiology of human sexual response. They observed and recorded physiological changes during sexual activity, leading to their identification of four distinct stages of sexual arousal: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. Their work, detailed in publications like Human Sexual Response (1966) and Human Sexual Inadequacy (1970), provided new methods for treating sexual dysfunction and significantly influenced public attitudes toward sex. The institute operated until 1994.123

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