Despite her recent passing at the age of 96, beloved sex therapist, Holocaust survivor, and best-selling author Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s message about how to restore happiness and a healthy sex life lives on.
In 2019, during one of her last visits to Dallas, she spoke at a Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum fundraiser. She explained how her life unfolded after fleeing Nazi Germany as a young girl, about becoming a sniper in the Haganah, the precursor to the IDF, and about her career as a sex therapist, reported The Dallas Morning News at the time.
She was wounded by an artillery shell in 1948.
“Though I am only 4 feet 7 inches tall, with a gun in my hand I am the equal of a soldier who’s 6 feet 7 — and perhaps even at a slight advantage, as I make a smaller target,” she once wrote in a New York Times op-ed article.
Dr. Westheimer shared with her audience tips about how to live a happy and balanced life.
She bemoaned the rise of the “hookup” culture, especially among young people, that has led to an increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases, describing it as a “big problem.”
“I can only say we have to be concerned that young people are having one-night stands instead of developing a relationship,” she said, per DMN. She stressed that a healthy relationship is the key to a good sexual relationship.
The then 90-year-old also lamented the rise of cell phone usage, noting that people often choose to look at their phones rather than engage with the people right next to them.
“The art of conversation is getting lost,” she said, reported DMN. “You walk into a restaurant, you see families, everybody’s on their phone. It’s becoming an obsession, as if the world is going to end if that phone is not open next to them.” She also expressed concern about the loneliness that results from such behavior.
Westheimer shared with the audience her secret for good sex.
“I’ll tell you a secret. Anyone who is going to contribute to that wonderful museum which I visited today,” referring to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, “and who is standing up for justice, I promise that they’ll have good sex for the rest of their life!”
Dr. Ruth’s rise to fame began with her radio show in 1980, which came after years of working as a sex therapist. She published more than a dozen books on sex and sexuality.
“I believe that I can talk so openly about sex because I’m very Jewish, and in the Jewish tradition, sex has never been considered a sin but always an obligation,” she said. “And it’s an obligation for the husband to satisfy his wife.”
She died peacefully at her home on July 12, surrounded by family, just a month after celebrating her 96th birthday. A cause of death has not been announced.