Dr. Karola Ruth Westheimer

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxW13yUbxKw]

Ruth Westheimer (born June 4, 1928) is a German sex therapist, media personality, and author best known as Dr. Ruth. The New York Times described her as a "Sorbonne-trained psychologist who became a kind of cultural icon in the 1980s.… She ushered in the new age of freer, franker talk about sex on radio and television—and was endlessly parodied for her limitless enthusiasm and for having an accent only a psychologist could have."

Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Wiesenfeld (near Karlstadt am Main), Germany, the only child of Orthodox Jews Irma (née Hanauer) and Julius Siegel. In January 1939, she was sent to Switzerland by her mother and grandmother after her father was taken by the Nazis. There she came of age in an orphanage, and stopped receiving her parents' letters in September 1941. In 1945, Westheimer learned that her parents had been killed in the Holocaust, possibly at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Westheimer decided to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. There, at 17, she "first had sexual intercourse on a starry night, in a haystack without contraception." She later told The New York Times that "I am not happy about that, but I know much better now and so does everyone who listens to my radio program." Westheimer joined the Haganah in Jerusalem. Because of her diminutive height of 4 ft 7 in (1.40 m), she was trained as a scout and sniper. Westheimer was seriously wounded in action by an exploding shell during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and it was several months before she was able to walk again.

In 1950, Westheimer moved to France, where she studied and then taught psychology at the University of Paris. In 1956, she immigrated to the United States, settling in Washington Heights, Manhattan. She still lives in the "cluttered three-bedroom apartment in Washington Heights where she raised her two children and became famous, in that order." Because of the two synagogues she belongs to, the YMHA she was president of for three years, and a "still sizable community of German Jewish World War II refugees", she remains in the neighborhood.She speaks English, German, French, and Hebrew.

She earned a master's degree in sociology from The New School and an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. She completed post-doctoral work in human sexuality at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, training with pioneer sex therapist Helen Singer Kaplan.

Westheimer has written several books on human sexuality, including Dr. Ruth's Encyclopedia of Sex and Sex for Dummies. The full version of Dr. Ruth's Encyclopedia of Sex is currently available online.

In the January 2009 55th anniversary issue of Playboy, Westheimer appears as #13 in the list of the 55 most important people in sex from the past 55 years.

In October 2013 the play Becoming Dr. Ruth opened off Broadway. Actress Debra Jo Rupp played the role of Dr. Ruth. The play showcased the sex therapist's life from fleeing the Nazis in the Kindertransport and joining the Haganah in Jerusalem as a scout and sniper, to her struggles to succeed as a single mother coming to America. . . . Continued

Dr. Ruth's other Interest: Ethnography

Ruth Westheimer is best known as “Dr. Ruth,” the tiny Jewish woman who dispenses sex advice in a distinctive German accent. But the renowned psychosexual therapist also happens to be an accomplished amateur ethnographer, having studied groups ranging from the Ethiopian Jews to Trobriand Islanders, often with a particular focus on family dynamics.

Her latest subject is the Druze, a secretive Arab sect that broke off from Shi’ite Islam in the 11th century and now resides in Israel, Syria and Lebanon.. . . Continued

Books

• Sexuality-Encyclopedia by Dr. Ruth
• Sex for Dummies, 3rd Edition with Pierre A. Lehu (Wiley Publishing, Fall 2006)
• Dr. Ruth's Sex After 50: Revving Up the Romance, Passion & Excitement with Pierre A. Lehu (Quill Driver Books, Spring 2005)
• Dr. Ruth's Guide to Talking About Herpes with Pierre A. Lehu (Grove Press, Fall 2004)
• 52 Lessons on Communicating Love with Pierre A. Lehu (Blue Mountain Arts, Fall 2004)
• Dr. Ruth's 30 Days to Sexual Intimacy with Pierre A. Lehu (Sweetwater Press, Spring 2004)
• Musically Speaking: A Life Through Song(University of Pennsylvania Press, Fall 2003)
• Conquering the Rapids of Life: Making the Most of Midlife Opportunities with Pierre A. Lehu (Taylor Trade, Fall 2003)
• The Lover's Companion: Art and Poetry of Desire edited by Charles Sullivan (Abrams, 2003)
• Grandma On Wheels with Pierre A. Lehu (Golden Books, Fall 2001)
• Who Am I? Where Did I Come From with Pierre A. Lehu (Golden Books, Fall 2001)
• Power: The Ultimate Aphrodisiac with Dr. Steven Kaplan (Madison Books, Fall 2001)
• Human Sexuality: A Psychosocial Perspective with Dr. Sandy Lopater (Lipincott, Williams & Wilkins, Fall 2001, college textbook)
• Rekindling Romance For Dummies with Pierre A. Lehu (Hungry Minds, 2001)
• Dr. Ruth's Guide to College Life: The Savvy Student's Handbook with Pierre A. Lehu (Madison Books, 2000)
• Dr. Ruth's Pregnancy Guide For Couples with Amos Grunebaum, MD (Routledge, 1999)
• Grandparenthood with Dr. Steven Kaplan (Routledge, 1998)
• Dr. Ruth Talks About Grandparents: Advice For Kids On Making The Most of a Special Relationship with Pierre A. Lehu (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1997, paperback, Madison Books 2001)
• The Value Of Family: A Blueprint for the 21st Century with Ben Yagoda (Warner Books, 1996)
• Heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition with Jonathan Mark (NYU Press, 1995; paperback, Continuum 1996)
• Sex For Dummies (IDG Books, 1995) (has been translated into 23 languages.)
• Dr. Ruth's Encyclopedia of Sex (Continuum, 1994)
• Dr. Ruth Talks to Kids ( Macmillan, 1993; Aladin Paperbacks, 1998)
• The Art of Arousal (Abbeville, 1993; paperback, Madison Books, 2000)
• Dr. Ruth's Guide to Safer Sex (Warner Books, 1992)
• Surviving Salvation (NYU Press, 1992)
• Dr. Ruth's Guide to Sensuous and Erotic Pleasures with Dr. Louis Lieberman (S.P.I. Books, 1991)
• Sex and Morality: Who Is Teaching Our Sex Standards with Dr. Louis Lieberman (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988)
• All In A Lifetime (Warner Books, 1987)
• Guide to Married Lovers (Warner Books, 1986)
• First Love: A Young People's Guide to Sexual Information (Warner Books, 1985)
• Dr. Ruth's Guide to Good Sex (Warner Books, 1983)
• The Olive and the Tree: The Secret Strength of the Druze By Ruth K. Westheimer, Gil Sedan
• Surviving Salvation: Ethiopian Jewish Family in Transition Ruth Westheimer, Steven Kaplan

• Ruth Westheimer Wikipedia