Dr Ruth aimed to shake America out of its puritan ways

There were plenty of such shows. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s her fame mushroomed, until she became a psycho-sexual therapist to the nation. Wise words poured out of her, and many became books, 45 at the last count. She had one mission: to promote sexual literacy, so that Americans could talk freely and frankly about penises and vaginas, what felt good and where, and what they wanted more of. No more blushes and wrigglings or the silly idea that it wasn’t quite right to discuss these things. Americans should talk about sex as they talked about food. And she was the ideal teacher. She was motherly, latterly grandmotherly, German-Jewish-American with an accent to match, and could dish out advice on foreplay as readily as chicken soup.