Virginia E. Johnson, born Mary Virginia Eshelman , was an American sexologist, best known as a member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team.
Background
Virginia Johnson was born in Springfield, Missouri, the daughter of Edna (née Evans) and Hershel "Harry" Eshelman, a farmer. Her paternal grandparents were members of the LDS Church, and her father had Hessian ancestry. When she was five, her family moved to Palo Alto, California, where her father worked as a groundskeeper for a hospital.
Education
Washington University in St. Louis.
Career
Along with William H. , she pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders from 1957 until the 1990s. The family later returned to Missouri and farming. Virginia enrolled at her hometown's Drury College at age 16, but dropped out and spent four years working in the Missouri state insurance office.
She eventually returned to school, studying at the University of Missouri and the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and during World War II began a music career as a band singer. She sang country music for radio station KWTO in Springfield, where she adopted the stage name Virginia Gibson. Johnson moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she became a business writer for the St. Louis Daily Record.
The American cable network Showtime debuted of Sex, a dramatic television series based on the 2009 biography of the same name, on September 29, 2013. The series stars Lizzy Caplan as Johnson.