In-Depth Piece Attempts To Set The Record Straight On ‘Masters Of Sex’ & Its Historical Accuracy

When turning reality into fiction, facts and other bits of truth must often be jettisoned in the interest of maintaining dramatic integrity. Well, the good folks over at Complex (link below) aren't about to sit idly by while Showtime's Masters of Sex gets stuff wrong. The interesting thing, however, is that they seem to have uncovered stuff that's a whole lot kinkier and crazier than what's presented on the show, a first perhaps for nitpicking geeks. 

So what's the skinny? Well, Dr. Masters may not have been so noble in his hiring of Virginia Masters...

Apparently, when Masters hired Johnson to be his research assistant in 1957 he made it clear from the beginning that sex was part of the deal. Later, however, Masters claimed that their partnership and marriage was largely to enhance his notoriety... Masters eventually divorced Johnson for a medical school crush in the early '90s. So, yeah, dude was kind of a dick. 

What else? What else?

From the late '60s to the early '70s, Masters and Johnson claim to have treated or "converted" many gay patients. Their controversial 1979 book Homosexuality In Perspective was positive in that it didn't portray homosexuality as mental disorder per se, but further pushed their belief that homosexuality is a choice and not an orientation. (Masters' research has been accused of being entirely falsified.)

Masters and Hef were also apparently pretty chummy...

Part of the perks, aside from regular media appearances, was the support of high profile public figures—among them Playboy Editor-in-Chief Hugh Hefner. (Hefner once said that "Masters and Johnson showed tremendous courage in their research.") In fact, when Masters and Johnson visited Chicago they often stayed and hung out at the original Playboy Mansion.

Hef's a straight pimp, I'm not about to make a joke here.

Via Complex