Rest Easy, Dr. Ruth: Iconic Sex Therapist Dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, known familiarly as Dr. Ruth for her storied history of helping to change the stigma about the AIDS crisis, has passed away at the age of 96. Her penchant for openly accessible, humorous, and unashamed sex education made her a hot-button topic for the conservative community across her remarkable 40-year career.

Hailing from Germany originally, Dr. Ruth was not cloistered about sex. She didn’t shy away from the topic in a world where it wasn’t frankly spoken about. She authored over 40 books, had a radio show called Sexually Speaking that ran from 1980 to 1990, taught at three Ivy League universities, and was a regular appearance on iconic late-night shows.

While she described herself as “a bit of a square” to students at Michigan City High School in 2002, she maintained that although sex was a private matter, it was still something that needed to be openly discussed for the good of the public.

One of Dr. Ruth’s most influential platforms was when she spoke out in sympathy with the gay community during the Reagan-era AIDS epidemic. She cited the source of her position as her own experience being Jewish in 1930s Germany.

Gay director Ryan White, who directed the 2019 documentary Ask Dr. Ruth, said that she was never just following the trend of accepting things such as sexuality or abortion after they were legalized. Friends from her orphanage in Germany said that whenever she ran across a gay person she would insist that they be treated with respect. You can learn more about advocacy during the AIDS crisis in the documentary We Were Here (2010).

Dr. Ruth’s legacy will live on for decades to come. She was a paramount figure in the sex education of the queer community during the AIDS crisis and onward, and she did so with laughs and grace. Dr. Ruth said to NPR in 2007, “I certainly believe in the need for sexuality education (…) and it has to be taught with some kind of humor.”