Her frankness, her German accent and her diminutive height made her instantly recognisable and endlessly parodied, but never forgotten
Her frankness, her German accent and her height – she was 4ft 7in – made her instantly recognisable and endlessly parodied, but never forgottenRuth Westheimer, who has died aged 96, was an American psychosexual therapist famed for transforming attitudes towards the open discussion of sex. She began quietly in 1980 with a 15-minute recorded programme, Sexually Speaking, aired after midnight on a New York radio channel. A year later it had become an hour-long live phone-in show.
She was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to orthodox Jewish parents, Julius Siegel, a haberdashery wholesaler, and Irma . An only child, Ruth had a happy childhood. Julius took her regularly to the synagogue. She was later to insist, against conservative and religious voices that sought to criticise her openness, that sex was not only good but heavenly, and that her message of liberal thinking towards sex had its origin in her religion.
She divorced in 1955 and the following year travelled with a French boyfriend, Dan, to New York, where she gained a master’s degree in sociology from the New School for Social Research. She and Dan married and had a daughter, Miriam, but soon divorced.In 1961, she met a fellow Jewish immigrant, Manfred Westheimer, known as Fred, while on a skiing trip. She married him nine months later and became an American citizen shortly afterwards. In 1964 their son, Joel, was born.
Her life and career took a dramatic turn when she gave a lecture to New York broadcasters about the need for sex education programming. Betty Elam, of the New York radio station WYNY-FM, offered Westheimer $25 a week to make Sexually Speaking. After a couple of weeks it was noticed that work stopped in the building as studio and office workers gathered to listen to this “cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse”, as the Wall Street Journal later described her.
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