Johnson, Virginia (1925– )

US sexologist. In 1959 she, with William Masters, founded the Masters and Johnson Institute to investigate the physiology of sexual intercourse and physiology. Their first popular publication, Human Sexual Response 1966, caused a major uproar with its explicit descriptions. Later they published, with Robert Kolodny, On Sex and Human Loving 1986.

Born in Springfield, Missouri, she was educated at Washington University, St Louis. She became a journalist and market researcher who dabbled in country music. In 1957 she joined Masters's research group at Washington University School of Medicine. She operated a sexual therapy service with him and they were married in 1971 (the marriage ending in 1992).