Fifteen years ago, Professor Erwin J. Haeberle, German scholar and professor of sexology, began collecting all the material put together by him and his colleagues in the field of sexology in a huge online repository with the aim of making it accessible to everyone, free, all information necessary for a healthy sex education and awareness. Today, that project has become a global landmark accessed every month by millions of people and indispensable tool for the understanding and prevention of diseases and bad habits of which we are often quite unaware. We met the professor to tell us how he did it.

Q: Professor Haeberle, why did you choose to start an ambitious project like this?
A: Now that I'm retired after a very successful academic career, I felt the need to reciprocate in some significant way.  In particular I want to share my experience with readers in developing countries who probably need it most. Therefore I wrote my curriculum of 6 online courses in sexual health in 11 (soon 12) languages. It is the largest e-learning project in the world. These courses, if studied carefully, can help to improve the status of women in many countries, one of the primary goals of us sexologists.

Q: When did you start putting together his archive?
A: 15 years ago (it was 1994), when I still worked for the Robert Koch Institute, a German federal, government-funded research institute.  Since its funds come directly from the German tax payer, its web site has always been freely accessible. However, when I retired, the Robert Koch Institute could no longer support my archive, and I therefore moved it to Humboldt University, keeping it accessible to everyone, just as before. However, since the university has no money to support it, I have been continuing it as a personal hobby, paying my staff out of my own pocket.

Q:  Your site registers 8 million hits in just a month. How do you explain that? Are people so hungry for knowledge?
A: Yes, of course. Throughout the world there is a great deal of curiosity and a desire for accurate information about sex, especially in developing countries.

Q: Can you explain how our society sees the differences (if any) between the concepts of love and sex? Do you believe there is still much to discover about it?
A: Can there be sex without love and love without sex. As a sexologist, I am simply talking about sex on my site. Love is a different topic and very complicated to study. Certainly, in both cases there is still much to discover.

Q: Sex education in schools seems to be a good idea, but probably also involves some risk. What do you think?
A: I see no risk in a sex education based on scientific insight. Knowledge is a good thing in itself; ignorance is never a virtue.

Q: Your library is completely free. And we know that, as Mantegazza said, love is and always will be an art. So I think that every art should be free for everyone?
A: I am a strong supporter of 'open access" to all relevant factual information. This is particularly true in cases where the copyright has expired or has been waived by the authors such as myself. For authors and artists who need the income from their work, alternative solutions must be found. I am sure they will be found that sooner or later.

Q: In your opinion where it is sexology going? Do you see other significant changes on the horizon?
A: Today we have three main branches of Sexology: 1) sex research, 2) sexual medicine and sex therapy, and 3) sex education. Of these three, the third one is, in my opinion, the most important today. In the last century, Western sexologists have gathered a wealth of knowledge that now must be shared with the rest of the world. And the world is ready to receive it. Sexual knowledge will certainly lead to an increasing demand for sexual rights and to corresponding reforms by various governments. If the human race, viewed as a whole, wants to survive in some tolerable condition, it is necessary that the still persisting sexual repression, which affects mainly women, should come to an end. Freely accessible sex education like the one I provide on my web site can make a significant contribution.

Q: What results can your library achieve in time for the next World Congress on Sexology?
A: My electronic archive can count on a growing number of users who will be informed about the importance of sexual health. After all, I am just following the demands of the World Health Organization (WHO) which has long supported the goals of this campaign. Past World Congresses of Sexology have always followed the proposals of the WHO and, in further support, have issued a Declaration of Sexual Rights. The next Congress will undoubtedly put more emphasis on world-wide sex education and the recognition of sexual rights. More and more people will realize that, in the final analysis, sex is a political issue.

The archive of Professor Haeberle
Declaration of Sexual Rights