She was a sharpshooter and sociologist. But Ruth Westheimer became famous for her relaxed way of talking about sex. Now the pioneer of sex education has died at the age of 96.
The famous German-American sex therapist Ruth Westheimer has died. She died on Friday in her home in New York City surrounded by her family, according to her manager and friend Pierre Lehu. Westheimer was 96 years old. In the USA, the therapist, who grew up in Frankfurt am Main, was considered a pioneer of sex education, whose programs achieved cult status.
Her entertaining and entertaining radio show “Sexually Speaking”, which was broadcast in the USA in the early 1980s, caused a sensation. Her characteristic giggle and open approach to sex tips won her many fans.
A week without sex does not kill a man
“Tell him you’re not going to make the first move,” she advised a worried caller in June 1982. “Tell him that Dr. Westheimer said he won’t die if he doesn’t have sex for a week.”
The success of her radio show opened new doors for Westheimer, so that in 1983 she wrote her first book: “Dr. Ruth’s Guide to Good Sex.” In the book, she explained sexuality with a mixture of humor and sobriety. Around 40 more books were to follow.
At just 4’6″ tall, Westheimer’s open-mindedness, appearance and cheerful demeanor made it easy for audiences to trust her. Her advice was often succinct and direct: have sex before dinner, share fantasies and be flexible when your partner’s sexual appetite differs from your own.
Ruth Westheimer – 91-year-old world-renowned sex therapist shares her ultimate sex tip
07:44 min
Westheimer avoided the word “normal” and suggested that anything that happened between two consenting adults in private was OK. She also advocated the legalization of prostitution, which caused controversy. Her book “Sex for Dummies” has been translated into 17 languages.
No beep on US TV when the word “vagina” is mentioned
The fact that the words “penis” and “vagina” were heard on radio and television in the USA without a bleep was thanks to Westheimer, who kept her English, which was tinged with a Hessian dialect, to the end. She also spoke uninhibitedly about topics such as ejaculation and masturbation, so that hundreds of thousands of people anonymously sought the advice of the motherly expert.
“Her name and the distinctive sound of her voice are inextricably linked with the subject of sex,” the New York Times once wrote. The sex therapist was a frequent guest on late-night talk shows, which further boosted her national fame.
“If we could get ourselves to talk about sexual activity the way we talk about food, we would be one step ahead,” she said on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in 1982. “Without the implication that there is anything wrong with it.” She added: “But we have to do it with good taste.”
Ruth Westheimer advocated for the right to abortion
She defended the right to decide for or against pregnancy and then to have an abortion. Westheimer strongly advocated the use of condoms, but was also considered an advocate of monogamy. In the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, she campaigned for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. She said she had to defend people who some right-wing Christians considered “subhuman” because of their own past.
Westheimer was born to Jewish parents in 1928. At the age of ten, in 1938, her parents sent her to Switzerland to protect her from the Nazis and their increasing repression and pogroms against Jews. Ruth would never see her parents again.
Westheimer was a trained sniper
Westheimer assumed that her parents were murdered in Auschwitz. At the age of 16, she moved to Palestine, where she joined the Zionist underground organization Hagana. There, the woman, who was only 1.40 meters tall, was trained as a sniper – but she says she never shot anyone at the time.
She suffered serious injuries to her legs in a bomb explosion and many of her friends were killed. She later went to Paris with her first husband, where she studied at the prestigious Sorbonne. Freshly divorced, she moved to New York in the mid-fifties, where she worked as a housekeeper for a while.
She earned her doctorate at Columbia University and began her career as a sex therapist. Westheimer initially worked with the pioneering sex therapist Helen Singer Kaplan before she eventually became famous with her radio show. Westheimer was married three times and had two children.
She was also awarded the Federal Cross of Merit – late
Westheimer had many international fans and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2019. “The questions are the same everywhere,” she once said. Although every country boasts of having better lovers, she certainly cannot identify a world-class lover. The image of America as supposedly so puritanical compared to a much more sexually free Europe is also pure “nonsense.”
Westheimer always expressed her gratitude for surviving the Holocaust – and her feeling of wanting to give something back. “I didn’t know that my later contribution to the world would be to talk about orgasms and erections,” she told the Harvard Business Review in 2016. “But I knew I had to do something for others to justify my life.”
Consent for every touch? “Nonsense”
Westheimer was involved in debates about sexuality until recently. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, some people were irritated by her attitude to consent: “This idea that when you’re aroused and you’ve already started, you should ask, ‘Can I touch your left breast or your right breast?’ is just nonsense,” she told the British newspaper “The Guardian” in 2019.
Westheimer kept her sense of humor despite all the controversies about sexuality. In 2023, she revealed her secret to People magazine: “Talk about sex from morning to night! It keeps you young!”
Note: This text has been updated several times
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
