‘sexual politics’

World-famous sex educator Ruth Westheimer died this month, aged 96.

To virtually every American now over 50 (and millions of young ‘uns), she was known as Dr. Ruth, the funny little old lady who revolutionized the way sex was discussed in mainstream media. From radio to TV, magazines, and newspapers, she made it OK to talk about sex using plain language to discuss plain things.

Back in the dinosaur days before 1980, the media didn’t talk about sex without smirking and euphemisms. Sex was intercourse, women who couldn’t climax from it were “frigid,” and old people weren’t sexual at all. And most TV sitcom couples still slept in separate beds.

Almost 50 years later, it’s easy to take potshots at Dr. Ruth’s of-her-time limitations. But today’s sexual identity activists should realize that all too soon, the future will judge many of their views as old-fashioned, naive, breathlessly emotional, or just plain wrong.