Sex therapist Ruth Westheimer dies at the age of 96

This was confirmed by spokesman Pierre Lehu to the German press agency dpa. Westheimer is considered an important pioneer for an open approach to sex and relationship issues, especially in the USA.

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She was born in 1928 as Karola Ruth Siegel in Wiesenfeld near Frankfurt into a Jewish family and was brought to Switzerland on a Kindertransport at the age of ten, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. She survived the Holocaust and became a US citizen in 1965, later regaining her German citizenship.

Became famous through radio broadcast

Westheimer’s career began with the radio show “Sexually Speaking,” in which she answered questions from listeners. The show quickly became so successful that other radio and television shows followed. Westheimer also published several books with speaker Pierre Lehu, including “Sex for Dummies” and “Silver Sex – How to Enjoy Love with Pleasure.”

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Her characteristic giggle and open approach to sex tips won her many fans. She spoke without inhibition 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 to the subject of sex,” the New York Times once wrote.

“The questions are the same everywhere”

The German-American had many international fans and was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit in 2019. “The questions are the same everywhere,” she once told the German Press Agency. Although every country boasts of having better lovers, she certainly cannot identify anyone who is the best in the world. The image of America as supposedly so puritanical compared to a much more sexually free Europe is also pure “nonsense.” In total, Westheimer has written more than 30 sex guides.