For more than the last 50 years, I have been driving a vehicle known as a Philosophy. It has gotten me around with ease and reliability. The plates on this model of transportation read “TEACHER.” They are renewed each year.
| Photo courtesy of Indiana University |
 |
| In addition to teaching, Elizabeth Kaatz Mooney’48 is currentlly researching Kinsey Institute interviews conducted with prison populations from the 1930s to the 1950s. |
The world wouldn’t pay much attention to this vehicle except that the bumper sticker attracts interest. It reads,
“I Own My Body.”
The very existence of that statement incites conversation from those who don’t understand that they own their own body and are responsible for its care and upkeep. From my point on the highway of life, these are the conversations I want to encourage, so I pick up the challenge, engage the questioner, and I teach.
The upholstery in this vehicle is the essence of our human sexuality, and if one gets into this car, the level of personal comfort depends on what one understands about intimacy and love and hormones and control issues, and what our mother didn’t know or didn’t know to tell us.
When you get into this vehicle and manage to get comfortable, I will take you on an exhilarating journey through the swamps of morality, the sunless caverns of myth, the mountains of sex research, the plains of anatomy and physiology, and the farmland of relationship. When our trip is over, I believe that you will understand that not only do you own your own body, it is also the only thing in this world that you truly own. I believe you will know that you have a responsibility to take care of what you own and not allow anyone or anything to exploit that body.
After we have traveled this far down the human sexuality highway, you will also know that in order to be responsible for what you own, you must also know as much about it as is possible. At this point in the journey you will be a seasoned traveler. This is information to be shared with others as one would share the joys of a successful holiday trip or family visit.
I’ve been very successful in fueling my vehicle with enthusiasm and lubricating it with ego. I tune it up each year by adding fine research to the spark plugs and giving it a good cleaning. It is very fuel efficient. It goes where I want to go. It’s an old model now, but it runs well and attracts a welcome response from those who drive similar Philosophies.
If you’re interested, get in, and we’ll go for a spin—but be aware, you might like it so much that you’ll want a car just like it! Come to Indiana University-South Bend and I’ll put you on the waiting list. As I said, it is very fuel efficient!
Elizabeth Kaatz Mooney’48 holds an M.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Doctor of Arts degree from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She has spent 45 years educating young people about sexuality as a therapist and a teacher, the last two decades as an award-winning faculty member in the sociology department at Indiana University-South Bend. Her Marital Relations and Sexuality class attracts 100 students a semester and is one of the department’s most popular courses. She received a Distinguished Service Citation from Beloit in 1973.
