--- title: Masters of Sex Season 2: Lizzy Caplan on Female Friendship description: The show's female creator is important — but not for the reason you might guess canonical: https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-10T21:19:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:38.016Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Masters of Sex Season 2: Lizzy Caplan on Female Friendship og:description: The show's female creator is important — but not for the reason you might guess og:url: https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte088f482a57a00ce/69869b403617606e7390d012/mastersofsex_201_1461-r.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Masters of Sex og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Masters of Sex Season 2: Lizzy Caplan on Female Friendship twitter:description: The show's female creator is important — but not for the reason you might guess twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte088f482a57a00ce/69869b403617606e7390d012/mastersofsex_201_1461-r.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lizzy Caplan: _Masters of Sex_ Wouldn't Be the Same Made by a Man  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 10, 2014 9:19 PM UTC  Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson and Caitlin Fitzgerald as Libby Masters in Masters of Sex Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson and Caitlin Fitzgerald as Libby Masters in Masters of SexMichael Desmond—Showtime  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 10, 2014 9:19 PM UTC With the second season of _Masters of Sex_ premiering July 13, the women who make the show what it is — creator Michelle Ashford, along with executive producers Amy Lippman and Sarah Timberman — [spoke to TIME](http://time.com/2972310/meet-the-women-behind-masters-of-sex/) about how the show addresses the mechanics and the pleasure of sex, all while avoiding voyeurism. But that’s not where their feminine sides _really_ show through. Star Lizzy Caplan says that there’s no way to say whether a sex scene written by a man versus one written by a woman is more gratuitous — but that there is one element of the show’s arc that wouldn’t be possible if the show weren’t created by women. And, ironically, it’s something that has very little to do with sex (though it does contain spoilers for last season): --- > “” --- But that’s not to say that Caplan doesn’t think their depiction of on-screen sex isn’t woman-friendly: “I think they’ve managed to do that,” she [says](http://time.com/2969986/masters-of-sex-television-female-sexuality/) of the show’s racier scenes, “where it doesn’t feel like it’s being made for 14-year-old boys.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/"},"headline":"Lizzy Caplan: Masters of Sex Wouldn't Be the Same Made by a Man","datePublished":"2014-07-10T21:19:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:38.016Z","description":"The show's female creator is important — but not for the reason you might guess","url":"https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/","keywords":["Living","feminism","women","Television","Sex","Showtime","Friendship","Masters of Sex"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte088f482a57a00ce/69869b403617606e7390d012/mastersofsex_201_1461-r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte088f482a57a00ce/69869b403617606e7390d012/mastersofsex_201_1461-r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Masters of Sex","caption":"Masters of Sex","creditText":"Michael Desmond—Showtime","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2970319/lizzy-caplan-masters-of-sex-female-creator/","name":"Lizzy Caplan: Masters of Sex Wouldn't Be the Same Made by a Man"}}]}] ```