The challenge is great. Despite all the talk about "family values", the family is besieged. The percentage of children living below the poverty line rose 49 percent from 1973 to 1992; American children are less likely to be immunized than those of any other developed nation; and many corporations still lag behind in areas such as maternity leave, while rewarding workers for long hours away from home. Moreover, the skyrocketing divorce rate and boom in the out-of-wedlock birth rate has relegated the "traditional family" to the realm of myth. Against this grim backdrop, Dr. Westheimer sees tremendous hope. She argues that the family is actually redefining itself in ways that will become more important - and more accepted - in the 21st Century. She points to changes in social attitudes and corporate and governmental policies that will allow for more unconventional but functioning family units, such as "step-" or "blended" families, and families headed by a gay single parent or couple. In addition, she sees generations pulling together for the sake of today's children, as more and more grandparents become active in their grandchildren's lives. In this book, help is available. Compiling an exhaustive list of family programs, resources, and self-help groups around the country and on the Internet, Dr. Westheimer tells parents how to get help for themselves and their children. And, sternly taking issue with new governmental legislation that claims to be "pro-family", she points our leaders in a bold new direction.
Born in Germany in 1928, I was sent to a children's home in Switzerland at the age of ten which became an orphanage for most of the German Jewish students who had been sent there to escape the Holocaust. At 17 I went to Israel where I fought for the country's independence as a member of the Haganah, the Jewish freedom fighters. I then moved to Paris where I studied at the Sorbonne and taught kindergarten. I immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 and obtained my Masters Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research. In 1970, I received a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in the Interdisciplinary Study of the Family from Columbia University Teacher's College.
My work at Planned Parenthood is what prompted me to further my education in human sexuality by studying at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center.
My TV show Sexually Speaking first aired in 1980 as a 15-minute taped show, which then increased in popularity and became a nationally syndicated radio show.
In recent years, I have made regular appearances on the PBS Television children's show Between the Lions as "Dr. Ruth Wordheimer" in a parody of my therapist role, in which I help anxious readers and spellers overcome their fear of long words.
Currently I am an Adjunct Professor at N.Y.U. and an Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale University, where I teach a course on the American family. I am also a Fellow of Butler College at Princeton University, where I will teach a course on the Jewish family. In addition to having my own private practice I am a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and frequently lecture at universities across the country.
