Her frail 4'7' frame peering over the podium, grandmother of four and foremost American sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer gave a frank talk to around 250 people at the Hillel Foundation, 611 Landon St. Monday night.
Westheimer said a major goal of her speech was to bury sexual myths passed down through generations, but she also stressed that many sexual matters should remain private.
\I don't want anyone to ask their parents, 'Do you masturbate?'"" Westheimer said. ""I don't want you to ask your mother, 'Do you orgasm?' I don't want you to call your dad and ask 'Did you get it up last night?'""
Despite her age, Westheimer said she still sees patients and picks up supermarket magazines with amorous cover stories.
""God forbid there should be something about sex that I don't know about,"" she said in her famous German accent.
Westheimer peppered her speech with several anecdotes varying from the sexual euphemisms of ancient Jewish sages to a modern couple's affinity for tossing onion rings on an erect penis.
Though she repeated several times that she's ""old fashioned and a square,"" many in attendance said they enjoyed Westheimer's frank approach to sexual discussion.
""I'm going to talk about erection and lubrication and all the others,"" Westheimer said near the outset of her speech.
She later added that her presentation may have been the first time the word ""orgasm"" was uttered inside the Hillel building.
After her hour-long speech, in which she confessed to standing on a bar mitzvah box to see over the podium, Westheimer fielded several questions from the audience that sought her opinion on beauty magazines, open relationships, oral sex and a good university for a Ph.D.
She was also asked if she ever heard a question that made her blush. Westheimer recalled an incident where ABC reporter Dianne Sawyer visited her home to do a profile on the woman who earned fame as a nationally syndicated radio host. Westheimer said Sawyer asked her husband to describe the couple's sex life.
""The shoemaker's children don't have shoes,"" Westheimer said her husband responded.
UW-Madison senior Kim Gruber attended Westheimer's speech and called her ""hysterical and very informative.""
""She's adorable and at first I though it would be weird hearing this kind of talk from a woman her age, but it was very enjoyable,"" Gruber said.
Westheimer came to Hillel as part of the organization's Major Event Series. The next speaker in the series will be historian Michael Oren, author of the book ""Six Days of War: the Making of the Modern Middle East,"" who will speak Dec. 5.
