 With her call-in radio show Sexually Speaking and TV offering The Dr. Ruth Show, Westheimer became known in the 1980s as a proponent of safe sex, who talked unflinchingly about the subject at a time when few dared to in public settings. Westheimer went on to write dozens of books, including Sex for Dummies. She taught at Yale and Princeton and was also an outspoken supporter of gay and abortion rights. Yet she cut an unlikely authority figure. Under five feet tall, she had an infectious giggle.