Archiving Black Feminist Sex Therapist Dr. June Dobbs Butts

"Dr. Butts was arguably the first Black feminist scholar to declare that equitable and inclusive sex education is integral to racial justice. Born in 1928, her master's thesis, 'An Interrogation of the Relational Meanings of Sex and Race in the United States,' explored gendered racism nearly a decade before the critical theory of intersectionality entered academic discourse."

"As a Planned Parenthood board member in 1970, she met William Masters and Virginia Johnson-a couple who founded the sexology field-and became the first Black sex therapist trained at their renowned institute. By the mid-1970s, Dr. Butts had departed from the Masters and Johnson Institute to establish her own private practice."

"A 1980 Washington Post profile hinted at a shift in priorities, explaining, 'At Masters and Johnson, all of her patients were white; now 90 percent of them are Black.' At this stage, she was known for her specialization in culturally adapted sexual education."

Dr. June Dobbs Butts, born in 1928, was a sexual education pioneer and Black feminist scholar who recognized equitable sex education as integral to racial justice. She collaborated with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Baptist Ministers Survey and wrote her master's thesis on gendered racism before intersectionality became academic theory. As a Planned Parenthood board member, she became the first Black sex therapist trained at the Masters and Johnson Institute. By the mid-1970s, she established her own practice serving primarily Black patients. She specialized in culturally-adapted sexual education, developing Bermuda's national sex education program and writing op-eds debunking myths about HIV/AIDS, queerness, teen pregnancy, sexual abuse, and sex addiction.

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