Remembering “Dr. Ruth”
I woke up this Saturday morning and learned Dr. Ruth Westheimer died at age 96. She was best known as a sex therapist who hosted a popular radio show, when in fact, she was so much more than that.
Radio talk show personality emeritus Paul Harris worked with Dr. Westheimer many years ago when she first appeared on airwaves across the country and became a national sensation. Read his nice tribute to her here (CLICK PAULHARRISONLINE).
I vividly remember the time she moved into our collective consciousness with her immensely popular call-in radio show which ran late on Sunday nights. To say “Dr. Ruth” was a breakthrough broadcast wouldn’t do justice to the mass ignorance, taboos, and many barriers she shattered about sex and reproductive health and the extraordinary help and encouragement she provided to millions of listeners. I was just out of college in my 20s when Dr. Ruth’s show came on the air, and long before the internet and so many TV options, many of us listened and heard valuable information for the first time what wasn’t available to us anywhere else. Imagine, gathering around the radio to listen, like a fireside chat — Dr. Ruth had that pull and power with millions of people of all ages, colors, backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations, When we speak of pioneers and trailblazers making a valuable positive impact on people’s lives, Dr. Westheimer was every bit as influential as the greatest inventors and intellectuals of modern times.
Her show wasn’t just about “sex ed.” For millions, it was a classroom and a weekly therapy session. She talked about human psychology and sex in a straightforward, non-judgmental way. In fact, Dr. Ruth became so popular that she became parodied by comedians and in SNL skits. She always went along with the fun, even the occasional mockery, presumably using the national exposure to broaden more horizons and tear down myths about sex.
Listening to her weekly program was also a shocking revelation, not just because she used “naughty” words on the air live that reflected the way normal people talked and behaved, but also because her callers were often so desperate and confused and even frightened by the decades and centuries of draconian social restrictions on sex. Listening to callers was sad at times, even tragic, but Dr. Ruth provided substantive information and help which likely made a difference to real people. She was also amazingly entertaining, funny while also clinical, which helped a lot. She may have been small in stature and talked like a grandmother, but she was a giant of influence.
Dr. Westheimer’s cheery outlook later in life was a stunning juxtaposition to the challenges and tragedies of her youth. Born in Germany in 1928, she lived through the horrors of Nazi Germany. At age 12, she was sent away to Switzerland by her parents to escape antisemitism and persecution. She would never see her parents again. Both died in the Holocaust. After the war, she immigrated to (then) Palestine and was trained as a sniper in the Isaeli Army. Later, she went to school in Paris, moved to New York where she earned a doctorate at Columbia. She became the nation’s most unlikely celebrity in her 50s and continued to educate men and women well into her 90s.
Dr. Ruth was truly a remarkable woman. She was a gift. She was a beacon. She should be remembered and respected for her profound contributions to advancing public knowledge and improving health. Sadly, today as women’s freedoms are being rolled back all across America by religion and far-Right extremists, we won’t have Dr. Ruth to provide that scratchy, giggly, heavily-accented voice of wisdom. Hence, it’s imperative that we who were fortunate enough to hear her guidance and were influenced by her years ago to carry her legacy forward and continue her life’s work.
R.I.P., Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
