Dr. Ruth and Richard Simmons Helped Us Escape the Moral Majority
They thumbed their noses at cultural puritanism through human connection. We need that again.
Sex and fitness are every body.
Photographers: Rachel Murray and Moses Robinson/Getty Images
During the 1980s, a decade defined by Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority, two peculiar pop icons stood up to conservatism: a German-born Holocaust survivor who became a sex therapist, and an overweight, unhappy kid from Louisiana who turned his personal story into a VHS exercise tape of feelgood evangelism for the masses.
Last week, the world lost Dr. Ruth Westheimer (better known as Dr. Ruth) and Richard Simmons just one day apart. It’s a fitting end for two individuals who tapped into the psyche of people who felt excluded for their age, size and sexuality. Their deaths feel especially painful at a time when abortion bans and anti- LGBTQ+ and DEI laws are erasing progress for the bodily autonomy and feelings of belonging they championed.