Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and bestselling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96.

Westheimer died Friday at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu.

Westheimer never advocated risky sexual behaviour. Instead, she encouraged open dialogue on previously closeted issues that affected her audience of millions. Her one recurring…