On February 26, Carnegie Mellon hosted the tenth annual MOSAIC conference. MOSAIC, which originally started out as a women's issue conference, has expanded its focus to gender issues, including dieting, dating, and sexuality. Committee chair and HSS junior Jamie Edwards said MOSAIC hoped to create a "cross-generational dialogue about gender issues" with this change. The ten-year anniversary of MOSAIC correlates with the centennial of the founding of Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, and these two important dates led planners to establish the theme of this year's conference as "Milestones."

This year's keynote speaker for MOSAIC was Ruth Westheimer. While she is both a Holocaust survivor and former sniper for the Israeli army, most people know her simply as Dr. Ruth, the sex therapist.

Westheimer graduated from the Sorbonne in France before receiving her Master's in Sociology and her Ph.D. in Education from Columbia University. She has received many honorary degrees and is due to receive a medal of honor from Columbia. Westheimer is the author of Sex for Dummies and had her own television show, The Dr. Ruth Show, which aired on Lifetime. She has also been honored as college lecturer of the year and mother of the year.

Before being introduced, Westheimer walked up to the podium and announced that everyone in the room should write down questions for her. She also encouraged people to raise their hands and ask questions aloud, reminding everyone that they didn't "have to say 'I', but instead say 'a friend'" would like to know something.

After a brief introduction, she shared her knowledge of the Carnegie Mellon population.

"I hear Carnegie Mellon listens carefully about sex," she said. "You can call me tomorrow and tell me if [my advice] works."

Westheimer began her talk with her own history. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany to Orthodox Jewish parents. She enjoyed her childhood and attending an Orthodox school until 1938, when her father was taken away by the Nazis and she was sent to safety in Switzerland with other Jewish children. As a girl in a Swiss orphanage, Westheimer was not permitted to attend high school, but she read her boyfriend's books to educate herself.  While in the orphanage, she received a diploma in housekeeping, but to this day, despite having a Ph. D, she has never attended high school.

Then she went on to talk about life after World War II when she was able to leave Switzerland; during the war, all of the surrounding areas had been occupied by Germany. Westheimer first moved to Palestine and then to Israel, where she taught kindergarten before becoming a sniper in the Haganah, the underground Israeli army. After leaving the army, she moved to France with her first husband and studied at the Sorbonne.

However, it wasn't until Westheimer divorced this husband and moved to New York City that she became interested in topic of sex. While in graduate school, she was offered a research position at Planned Parenthood. At first, she was surprised by the job's atmosphere, but she later came to appreciate it.

"'There's something drastically wrong with these people,'" she recalled thinking to herself. "'All they talk about is sex.' Forty-eight hours later, I thought, 'What an interesting subject.'"

Her experience at Planned Parenthood caused her to write her dissertation on sex, which led to her profession today. Westheimer said that she uses the data found in sex studies by Masters and Johnson, two important sex researchers, in her work. Her goal is to help bury myths about sex and related topics, such as masturbation.

"The more we bury the myths, the more we are able to talk about them," Westheimer said.

She also stressed that in her practice she wants to help people using their own beliefs, morals, and religious convictions. Westheimer encouraged the members of the audience to respect their values and only do things they were comfortable with.

One such value that Westheimer herself truly feels passionate about is the right for women to choose to have an abortion.

"From where I stand, abortion must remain legal, not as a contraceptive, but for when there is a contraceptive failure," she said.

Westheimer ended her talk not with more sex talk, but with a command for the students of Carnegie Mellon: take a risk. "Carnegie Mellon is a big name," she said. "I would never expect you to follow anyone else's ideas."

The conference also hosted several workshops sessions held throughout the University Center. The workshops utilized current students, alumni, staff, and community leaders to give conference-goers an enlightening and enjoyable day. Some workshop topics included "Tartan Monologues: The Female Experience at Carnegie Mellon," "The Skinny on Fad Dieting," "Sexuality on Stage: Spotlighting Sexuality in Modern Drama," "Imaginary Home-lives," and "I Wanna be a Super (Role) Model: Women and Mentorship." The workshops often included interactive elements and allowed audience members to become a part of the learning process rather than objective observers. For example, the "Sexuality on Stage" session showcased actors from Scotch'n'Soda Theatre, Carnegie Mellon's student-run theater group, performing scenes from the plays Angels in America, The Laramie Project, and Black (Queer) Like Me. Audience members then engaged in a discussion of media portrayals of homosexuality in different mediums, such as theatre, film, and television.

MOSAIC also hosted an information and art gallery during the conference.

The day seemed overall to be a great success, bringing Carnegie Mellon one step closer to Edwards' wish as stated in her welcome letter: "We hope that MOSAIC will stimulate new thinking and awareness about gender issues and generate a commitment to and support for gender equity, long after today's sessions have concluded."

For more information on MOSAIC or to be involved with the planning of next year's conference, contact mosaic@andrew.cmu.edu.

Editor's Note: Ashley Birt was a presenter at MOSAIC and both authors are members of Scotch'n'Soda Theatre.

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