Technology has changed the way we date—a single swipe gives new meaning to being rejected. But no matter what the advances—good and bad—the ritual is pretty much the same: meet, connect, and fall in love. And while a positive chemical reaction can boost your confidence, a series of bad dates can lead to depression, giving up, or remaining stuck in a negative dating cycle.
Beloved, world-renowned sex therapist Dr. Ruth will finally take the drama out of dating. She will help you figure out how and where to find someone (a Tinder hookup is not a date!), get you mentally and physically ready for that anxious first meeting, and prepare you for ghosting and other twenty-first-century rebuffs.
With her trademark insight and compassion, Dr. Ruth’s commonsense guide will improve your prospects and help you weather the challenges and recognize when it’s time to transition from just you to you two.
Karola Ruth Westheimer, better known as Dr. Ruth, was a German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, and Holocaust survivor. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish family. As the Nazis came to power, her parents sent the ten-year-old girl to a school in Switzerland for safety, remaining behind themselves because of her elderly grandmother. They were both subsequently sent to concentration camps by the Gestapo, where they were killed. After World War II ended, she immigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine. Despite being only 4 feet 7 inches (1.39 m) tall and 17 years of age, she joined the Haganah, and was trained as a sniper, but never saw combat. On her 20th birthday, Westheimer was seriously wounded in action by an exploding shell during a mortar fire attack on Jerusalem during the 1947–1949 Palestine war, and almost lost both of her feet. Moving to Paris, France two years later, she studied psychology at the Sorbonne. Immigrating to the United States in 1956, she worked as a maid to put herself through graduate school, earned an M.A. degree in sociology from The New School in 1959, and earned a doctorate at 42 years of age from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1970. Over the next decade, she taught at a number of universities, and had a private sex therapy practice. Westheimer's media career began in 1980 with the radio call-in show Sexually Speaking, which continued until 1990. In 1983 it was the top-rated radio show in the area, in the country's largest radio market. She then launched a television show, The Dr. Ruth Show, which by 1985 attracted 2 million viewers a week. She became known for giving serious advice while being candid, but also warm, cheerful, funny, and respectful, and for her tag phrase: "Get some". In 1984 The New York Times noted that she had risen "from obscurity to almost instant stardom." She hosted several series on the Lifetime Channel and other cable television networks from 1984 to 1993. She became a household name and major cultural figure, appeared on several network TV shows, co-starred in a movie with Gérard Depardieu, appeared on the cover of People, sang on a Tom Chapin album, appeared in several commercials, and hosted Playboy videos. She is the author of 45 books on sex and sexuality. The one-woman 2013 play Becoming Dr. Ruth, written by Mark St. Germain, is about her life, as is the 2019 documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth, directed by Ryan White. Westheimer had been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and awarded the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Leo Baeck Medal, the Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger Award, and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
One of the worst dating books I've ever read, filled with insipid, out-of-touch advice. For example, Dr Ruth discusses what it's like to date via "computer program" (they're called apps, Dr Ruth, apps). She also suggests that young women take first dates somewhere that alcohol isn't served so they don't get rufied. (How about telling male readers not to rufie their dates?) The book is positioned as advice for adult readers on meeting long-term relationship goals, but the more I read, the more I realized it's for teenagers who've never been on a date in their life with advice like "dressing too sexy is a mistake" and "read The New York Times beforehand so you have something to talk about." The break-up advice is even worse, with Dr Ruth suggesting you text them "It's been fun, but it's over" or "Best of luck with the rest of your life." Savage.
(Note I read this after receiving an ARC from the publisher.)
I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Amazon Publishing and Goodreads giveaway for my unbiased opinion of the book. First of all, I've loved Dr. Ruth since the 80's and was very good at staying relevant, however, this book left a lot to be desired.
A lot of good common sense advice about the importance of trying different avenues in the dating world but also to always be the truest and best version of yourself.