{"id":9635,"date":"2024-07-16T21:35:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T21:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9635"},"modified":"2024-07-16T22:25:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T22:25:24","slug":"readers-remember-dr-ruth-and-her-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9635","title":{"rendered":"Readers Remember Dr. Ruth and Her Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When our parents were silent, unsure or sexually repressed, there was always Dr. Ruth.<\/p>\n

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Jason Heuer was 12 years old when he asked his dad to give him \u201cthe sex talk\u201d during a drive to the grocery store.<\/p>\n

His father cleared his throat and told him that there were three types of men: leg men, breast men and butt men, recalled Mr. Heuer, now 51, of Queens, N.Y. \u201cFigure out which one you are,\u201d his dad said. \u201cLet me know if you have any more questions, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Heuer did, indeed, have more questions. Fortunately, he found a more enlightening source: Ruth Westheimer, a.k.a. Dr. Ruth, America\u2019s most famous sex therapist, who died last week<\/a> at 96.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way she talked about sex and normalized it was a relief,\u201d said Mr. Heuer, who listened to her radio show night after night, comforted by her open, effervescent approach to even the most taboo topics. He credits the hours he spent listening to her with instilling in him a \u201cguilt-free\u201d approach to sexuality, despite a Catholic upbringing, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For decades, Dr. Ruth brought intimate conversations about sex out into the open, offering frank and often funny advice in radio and TV appearances, books and articles. She was a force who challenged misconceptions<\/a> about women\u2019s sexuality, offered support and acceptance to the gay community and held strong views about what makes a happy life<\/a>. Along the way, she became a touchstone for millions \u2014 many of whom were saddened to hear of her death and eager to share how she\u2019d helped them understand themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe gave us permission to talk about sex \u2014 to talk about it on TV, to talk about it on the radio \u2014 in ways that were so freeing for people,\u201d said Justin Garcia, executive director of the Kinsey Institute, the sexuality and relationships research program, who considered Dr. Ruth a friend.<\/p>\n

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When our parents were silent, unsure or sexually repressed, there was always Dr. Ruth.Jason Heuer was 12 years old when he asked his dad to give him \u201cthe sex talk\u201d during a drive to the grocery store.His father cleared his throat and told him that there were three types of men: leg men, breast men and butt men, recalled Mr. Heuer, now 51, of Queens, N.Y. \u201cFigure out which one you are,\u201d his dad said. \u201cLet me know if you have any more questions, OK?\u201dMr. Heuer did, indeed, have more questions. Fortunately, he found a more enlightening source: Ruth Westheimer, a.k.a. Dr. Ruth, America\u2019s most famous sex therapist, who died last week at 96.\u201cThe way she talked about sex and normalized it was a relief,\u201d said Mr. Heuer, who listened to her radio show night after night, comforted by her open, effervescent approach to even the most taboo topics. He credits the hours he spent listening to her with instilling in him a \u201cguilt-free\u201d approach to sexuality, despite a Catholic upbringing, he said.For decades, Dr. Ruth brought intimate conversations about sex out into the open, offering frank and often funny advice in radio and TV appearances, books and articles. She was a force who challenged misconceptions about women\u2019s sexuality, offered support and acceptance to the gay community and held strong views about what makes a happy life. Along the way, she became a touchstone for millions \u2014 many of whom were saddened to hear of her death and eager to share how she\u2019d helped them understand themselves.\u201cShe gave us permission to talk about sex \u2014 to talk about it on TV, to talk about it on the radio \u2014 in ways that were so freeing for people,\u201d said Justin Garcia, executive director of the Kinsey Institute, the sexuality and relationships research program, who considered Dr. Ruth a friend.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9637,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9638,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9635\/revisions\/9638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}