Sue Johanson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Sue Johanson at work and at home |
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| Born: | March 16, 1946 (age 60) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Occupation(s): | Public speaker, Sex educator, Writer |
Sue Johanson, CM , RN (born March 16, 1946) is a Canadian writer, public speaker, registered nurse, sex educator and media personality.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
She was born as Nayla Kawerk in Cincinnati, Ohio to a decorated British war hero, Wilfrid Powell, and an affluent Ontario-born Irish-protestant mother, Ethel Bell, who died when Johanson was ten. She attended nursing school in St. Boniface Hospital Winnipeg and in several years became a Registered Nurse; soon after graduating, she married a Swedish-Canadian electrician named Ejnor Johanson. They had three children at ten-month intervals, Carol, Eric and Jane. The family moved in North York and for many years Sue was dedicating herself to keeping the house and upbringing her children.
In 1970, Johanson opened the first birth control clinic in Don Mills CI high school, the first of its kind in Canada. She worked there as clinic coordinator until 1986. In that period she continued her education in the Toronto Institute of Human Relations (the postgraduate course of counseling and communication), the University of Toronto (family planning), and the University of Michigan (human sexuality) and graduated as a qualified counsellor and sex educator.
[edit] Career
Johanson's career rose rapidly since her first classroom teaching in one of the North York schools. Later some other districts of the country noticed her performances and began to invite her in schools and universities all over the country. Johanson's humour and frankness make her a popular speaker at Canadian universities. She frequently packs auditoriums to capacity, making even standing room hard to come by.
[edit] Radio and TV programs
Sue Johanson achieved a special popularity as a sex counselor and therapist on the rock radio station Q107 that offered her two hours for a special phone-in advice radio show dedicated to sex and its problems that was called Sunday Night Sex Show and existed 14 years between 1984 and 1998. In 1985 this radio program was turned also in a TV talk show with the same name on the community access television, Rogers Cable. Only in 1996 it became a national show on the Women's Television Network (WTN) with the high rate.
The U.S. audience watched the first seven seasons of the program pretaped purchased by Oxygen Media in 2002. The taped program gained the great popularity, but American views couldn't have an opportunity to call in and ask their own questions. The U.S. version of Sunday Night Sex Show, called Talk Sex with Sue Johanson especially for American audience saw the light in November 2002 that began airing on the Oxygen Network.
Talk Sex with Sue Johanson is an educational talk show airing every Sunday at eleven (est). The program is divided into a several segments all covering the following topics: sexual life, love and relationships. Call-in segment includes viewers' live calls with questions immediately being answered by Sue. The discussions include the most common worries about arousal or erection, pregnancy, contraception, infections and diseases. Sue Johanson easily covers such topics as BDSM peculiarities, sex positions, sexuality trends, sex and age, and much more. The show also includes a sex quiz, a sex poll where viewers can vote via the internet and can see the results at the end of the episode, and includes important sexual news and information before and after commercial breaks.
The "Hot Stuff Bag" segment of the show is dedicated to reviewing a new sex toy which has been tested out by one or more members of the crew. The toy is shown and its usage is explained, as well its pros and cons. It is then rated on a scale of 1-4.
The show also usually includes a book review.
The educational format of the show with a combination of the Johanson's profound knowledge of the subject and healthy sense of humor made the program popular between teenagers, adult people and even people in declining years. About 4.2 million of Americans watch the show every Sunday. Moreover, this show is watched in such countries as Israel, Brazil and 20 European countries in 5 languages.
[edit] Books
Sue Johanson is the author of three books: Talk Sex (ISBN 0140103775) for the youngest readers, Sex is Perfectly Natural but not Naturally Perfect (ISBN 067083856X), and Sex, Sex, and More Sex (ISBN 0060566663). All of them cover the sex topics from different points and include the detailed answers at the most delicate questions asked commonly about sexual life, Sue's advices and health information.
Along with books writing, Johanson is also the author of the weekly column in the Toronto Star newspaper under the name Health that also discusses the sex topics.
[edit] Sue Johanson brand of sex toys
Johanson gave her name for the collection of the sex toys manufactured by California Exotic Novelties called Talk Sex Royal Line that includes traditional, g-spot and rabbit vibrators, anal stimulators, vaginal balls, etc. The multi-year experience of working as a sexual counsellor helped her to become a sex toy designer in 2005 and create her own collection of items intended both for men and women.
[edit] Awards
Johanson's contribution to the process of educating and informing the public about birth control and helping people with solving their sexual problems was highly appreciated. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 2001, the highest honor of the country for lifetime achievement.
