无论来自何方，无论出于什么目的，您都可以随时免费联机使用本网络教程。由于本网站在超过100个国家与地区有近亿的联机使用者，本教程是世界上最大的网络教程项目。

原著:【德】欧文 J. 黑伯乐；翻译:【中国】彭晓辉；校对:【美】阮芳赋、【中国 香港】吴敏伦

性健康“开架阅览”教程

本教程其他语言版本及中文繁体版也可免费联机使用。请点击各自的国旗或区旗：

        导言：本教程的目的与使用

• 1. 人体性解剖学与性生理学基础（Basic Human Sexual Anatomy and Physiology）
• 2. 人类生殖（Human Reproduction）
• 3. 男女性生理问题（Physical Problems in Females and Males ）
• 4. 性传播疾病及其预防（Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Their Prevention)
• 5. 性功能障碍及其治疗（Sexual Dysfunctions and Their Treatment）
• 6. 人类的性行为（Human Sexual Behavior）

版权所有©2003、2004、2005、2006、2007年。欧文 J. 黑伯乐(Erwin J. Haeberle)

我认为科学文献的开架阅览是我们专业领域的未来发展之路。所以，遵照世界卫生组织(WHO)的一再建议，我在此提供性健康教育的系列教程。本教程是一个由六个独立的部分所构成的全球性学工程，此外，她也是覆盖大多数重要实际问题的职业继续教育教程。
我的性健康网络教程有六个使用便利条件：

概要地说，本教程就人类性学构建起了一个基本的知识框架。已经获得了这种知识的学生能够相应地获得结业证书或毕业证书。本教程如果经由学位授予机构进行必要的补充和扩展，也能够作为文学学士甚或文学硕士的课程使用。
然而，请您注意：我不提供考试答案，也不能因通过本教程为您颁发结业证书。本课程对有人类性学专业或课程的协会和机构特别优惠。如今，世界范围内有数十家机构正提供数十种性学学位或职业证书项目。欲知详情，请点击此处。这些学术学位或职业证书项目在不改变本教程的前提下可以单纯地使用本教程，或者添加它们自己的教材。它们也可以在本科或在研究生程度以及为成功完成学业授予结业证书、毕业证书和学位教育中使用本教程。

作为学术主修专业或辅修的“性健康”课程

依据学术机构不同，在它们自己的权限范围内可以把“性健康”设置为主修专业或辅修课。甚至，世界卫生组织(WHO) 已经建议“应该鼓励把人类性学开辟成健康保健职业教育与培训的自主学科”。(欲知详情，请点击此处。) '性健康"作为辅修专业可以添加到已经设置的教育学、心理学、刑法学、法律执行、社会学、社会工作、护士学和公共卫生等这些 仅列举了一少部分的各个专业课程体系之中。它在某些特殊的领域以某种形式可能对医学专业也是一门实用的选修课程。

继续教育中使用本教程

显而易见，本教程对于各种形式的继续教育也是适合的，尤其对于增强婚姻与家庭咨询师、临床心理治疗师、社会工作、健康保健工作人员、教师和各种宗教教派教长的工作或业务资质能力更为合适。继续教育的培训可以在校园里进行或者在培训中心进行，或者可以在全国范围内或国际范围内通过互联网进行。一些教育培训代理和机构已经发现把本教程、甚至于我的整个网站刻录成CD或DVD，并且在没有互联网上网条件的教师和学生中分发也是有益的。这种方式在发展中国家尤其成功。

远程教育中使用本教程

想要为远程研修教育项目使用我的教程的学院、大学或机构将必须增加自己的交互式沟通网络内容。自然而然，这将需要他们自身的 初期投资。不过，这是一项能够带来巨大回报的投入。这将会确实证明对于生活在匮乏必要的学术资源的国家的学生是有益的。一旦本教程变成交互式联机教学，遥远的学生就能够申请、注册、支付学费、与教学人员和同学建立网络联系、上传作业和参加考试，等等。出于同样的原因，任何服务于许多外国学生的这样的远程教育项目一定会在财政上赢利。本教程对于世界范围的卫生保健专业人员和性教育者的性学培训特别有用。这也是为什么 我以数种语言提供本教程的初衷。截止到现在，我的网站每天已经有超过7000名的悉心读者(intensive reader，即阅读时间超过30分钟的“访问者”)。如果这些读者中只有0.1%是远程教育的可能申请者，我就已经每天正向7名求学者授课。甚至，通过吸引来自世界各地的潜在学生，我的免费课程能够为学术机构和职业培训机构产生相当可观的收入。

本门联机教程的特色

本门联机教程是原创性的著作，并不是取自其他作者的作品进行编辑的读物。所以，它“达到了高度的一致性”和内在逻辑的严密性。事实上，我不仅写就了全部的教程，而且也与我的网页设计师一起制作了大多数的插图。另外，我还使用了自己的教科书的插图以及来自个人的历史收藏品的资料。某些插图由政府代理机构所提供；某些插图取自于其他公共出版物或已经长期不受版权限制的图片。少数图片由同行所提供。
本门联机教程的网页布局非常简单，并且在点击鼠标数次之后就会飞快地展现在眼前。大体说来，本部教程在集中关注性健康的基本知识的同时，还设法让学生不仅掌握性的生物学知识，而且让他们了解人类性学的心理-社会方面的知识。所以，本部教程比大多数教科书更加地丰富多彩。甚至，当我讨论解剖学、生理学或医学问题的时候，也设法穿插一些社会学、历史学、文化学或人种学方面的背景知识。而且，我还试图说明科学发展和社会进步并不是刚刚“发生”的，而是那些值得铭记的特殊人物积大成的结果。只要在可以介绍这些特殊人物的地方，我都已经贴上了他们的肖像和介绍了他们的传记记录。我已经在美国和欧洲各个大学教授性科学超过了30年，结识(或曾经结识了)大多数现代先驱，而且许多先驱还成了我的好朋友。某些先驱都已经谢世。

我同样深入浅出地小心翼翼阐述和解释本学科的每一个问题，而且用词精确和客观，并且避免使用那些会引起偏见的、不合逻辑的、令人误解的和其它与科学和专业有关的不适当的术语。在这个方面，我的各讲教程与大多数传统的教科书不太一样。不过，涉及人类性学诸如此类的内容则差别不大，而且反映了本学科领域当前多数人的学术观点。就这一点看，整个教程确实是一部“主流的”教学课目，呈现给读者的是当今绝大多数性科学家所理解的这些事实。当涉及到那些有争议的主题的时候，我会设法保持中立的立场，会介绍论争双方的观点。简而言之，我并不容忍自己偏袒任何一方或登上任何一方的论坛擂台。 与之不同的是，我只不过设法向学生介绍他们可能需要了解的知识。
我的原则是，不引用那些众所周知的事实真相，不使用那些人们熟悉的引用语，也不参考人们在互联网通过搜索引擎容易找到和查证的规范文章。因为，八股文式的脚注已经不必要地塞满了显示屏。幸运的是，我的这个大网站包容了大量的参考文献资料。因此，本教程的许多超级链接会直接引导读者找到我的在线图书馆的专著和论文。这对那些缺乏足够学术资源的国家和地区非常有利。如果学生沿着所有的超级链接所指向的目标，打开和阅读所有参考读物目录的全部词条内容，他们会获得比预想要多得多的更全面的知识。

欢迎翻译另外的语言版本

除了我的在线图书馆里的参考书籍和论文以外，我的整个网站本来就是我本人一个人的作品。因而，从一开始，我的性健康教育教程也就是我私有的个人项目。虽然多年以来，我已经得到了一些捐助者的资助和认可，但是我也已经为维持这个网站掏空了荷包。本教程的数个语言译本是来自各个国家的理想主义者的同仁的译作，他们与我一样对科学文献的“开架阅览”具有先见之明的眼光。我从来没有给他们支付任何报酬。有一些同仁译者已经因他们的研究生翻译本教程的工作数量给予了学分。不过，正如读者会注意到的那样，某些语言翻译进程远远地落后了。所以，我在这里呼吁：诚恳地邀请任何具有资质能力并有兴趣提供不取翻译报酬的仁人志士与我取得联系。我也欢迎捐助者的资助，以便我为翻译成其他语言的新译本支付报酬，或者至少为这些译本的计算机技术转换成我们的设计格式支付报酬。如果没有先期将本网站的文字转换到其他不使用拉丁字母的语言(俄语、希腊语、日语、韩国语、阿拉伯语和波斯语等等)的各自的计算机系统里，这些译本就不能在本网站显示出来。这样的技术转换工作将不得不支付报酬，但是我简直就没有必要的基金来负担这种花费。

将会扩展的教程

尽管本门联机教程对人类性学做了可靠的基础知识的阐述，但是，为了对人类性学的所有知识方面进行更全面的论述，我们能够并应该对它进行学科知识体系的扩充。例如，至少增加下列的教程内容是非常有用的：

       - 性别：女性和男性的心理社会角色
       - 性取向
       - 婚姻与家庭
       - 性服从(sexual Conformity)与性偏离(sexual Deviance)

现时让我感到遗憾的是，我没有能力就这些重要的选题撰写教程了。在新的内容未能添加的这一段时期，我只能给感兴趣的读者提供我的教科书里相关的章节，供大家阅读。另一个知识非常丰富的相关教程也许就是性学发展史了。我再一次重申，就现阶段来看，我很可能只能给读者提供我的网站单独的章节内容。我的确希望将来的某一个时候，我也会为撰写这些拟定的教程获得必要的资金支持 。

不过，此时此刻，在财政上支付自己的这个联机教程多年以后，我不再有能力额外为其付费了。任何想要设法像我这样开办和经营一个免费教程的人迟早会发现维持一个网站项目会需要大量的经费。这是我完全不具有的一笔经费。尽管非常不情愿，我因而得出结论，除非和直到必要的资金得到具体落实，我不可能添加更多的教程内容在这个网站上。遗憾的是，迄今为止，我的无数次为获得这种基金的尝试都归于失败。

互联网教学的愿景

我相信把科学知识局限于付费的消费者的局面最后是不可能保持下去的。最终，全部的科学文献将在互联网上和其它的电子媒体上成为免费使用的信息。只有两个明显的例外情形：1.由政府归入机密级别的研究 文献；2.由私人公司经营并因商业保密的原因而进行的研究资料。正像商业公司会设法防范工业间谍一样，各国政府也会始终设法防止国家机密被外国间谍所窃取。
不过，在大学里由公共财政所支持、所管理和所研讨的科学研究文献并不属于上述两个范畴的机密。这样的研究 文献总是以印刷的方式出版，但是新兴的电子媒体正在扩展自己的势力范围，并且正在加速科学文献的传播。因为电子媒体能够使任何感兴趣的人免费得到所有的公共研究 文献，它也正改变着经济运行的秩序。尽管如此，迄今为止只有少数学术机构似乎已经领会到了这场电子技术革命所蕴含的前景。大多数学术机构仍就把他们的 文献限定提供给预付费的学生。 然而，这些预付费的学生越来越多地能够在互联网上获得对等的甚或同样的免费文献，而且常常获得最新形式的文献。有关科学期刊的发行商也能够发现同样的发展情形。其中有一些科学期刊发行商感到 了这种经济运行变轨换挡之声正在他们的脚底响起。所以，他们坚决要求拥有他们全部出版物的版权，而且试图限制在互联网上的订户或预付费的读者有权使用他们的出版物。十分显而易见的是，出版商的这种做法并不是出版物的作者感兴趣的问题，因为他们既没有得到应得的酬谢也没有得到出版物的版税，而且他们也会欢迎更多的读者阅读他们的作品。甚至，这些未获得什么酬劳的作者最终会明白，出版商的这种经营之道对于免费获取科学文献信息的观念是一个不必要的障碍。因为许多期刊是科学机构的官方刊物，而且通过会员缴费获得了大笔的财政支持，终有一天期刊杂志的会员或订户会认识到他们可以“绕过这个中间商”，而且通过直接发表在互联网的出版物免费获得有利得多的读者身份。

我确信对科学文献”开架阅览“的顽固抵抗将会证明是徒劳的。的确，由于强有力的捐赠者的资助，一些世界上最先进的大学(哈佛大学, 麻省理工学院)为互联网的读者已经提供了不付费的颇有价值的科学文献信息。同样地，越来越多的免费联机期刊给读者提供了严肃的与期刊相同的多 种科学研究论文。设想一下世界范围内对高等教育不断增长的需求及其递增的教育成本，这种普遍的科学文献信息”开架阅览“的发展趋势似乎明晰可见：图书馆将不会再有经费购买每一本新书和订阅期刊。电子期刊也不能再收取读者的阅览费。毕竟，一旦在互联网上能读到一本课本，它就很容易被”经认可的“读者所复制，并被发布给”经认可的“朋友和同僚，进而，这些朋友和同僚也会重复这一过程。企图防止这类信息资料的复制将证明是徒劳无功的。在将来，这就意味着科学 文献将要么是免费的和联机阅览的，要么被忽视而行将归于沉寂。就为了这个单一的理由，有影响力的科学家和学者也会坚持让自己的文章免费出现在互联网上。出于同样的理由，专业人员将不再可能在过分拥挤的教室里进行规范的演讲，此时，他们在其他城市或国家的同行会免费在互联网上教授同样的课程内容。(再一次重申，哈佛大学和麻省理工学院的互联网免费课程信息就是这一事态来临的先兆。)由于不断增长的互联网联机的竞争态势，对传统教科书我也认为并没有什么了不得的前途。简而言之：也许会花费一点时间，但是各个大学和学术研究的作者最终将别无他法，只好把他们的全部研究论文和著作免费提供给互联网的读者，并且寻求对互联网的出版物进行财政资助的另一种选择途径。

这些还只是教学的全球化可能带来的一点点变化，不过在这里不是我们深入探讨这一发展趋势的地方。在此，我恰恰想要说明是，我的整个网站只是抢在这种必然趋势之前的一种尝试，也是扬鞭策马加速这种必然趋势 来临的一种尝试。我也想要向有兴趣教授性健康知识的人们证明，没有必要再辟蹊径了。上述提及的世界卫生组织(WHO)的报告涵盖了非常清晰的行动计划。这些行动计划清楚地说明了谁应该从谁那里研习性健康教程，也清楚地说明了谁应该为必要的性健康教程提供详细的大纲。本人只是一直遵循这些计划行事而已。
在性健康教育的领域正是积极采纳我的提议的时候了。学院、大学、职业协会、国家与国际机构以及非政府组织——我都邀请你们充分地利用好我提供的教程。我所要求的全部回报只是一丁点儿的反馈信息和得到承认。如果能够获得正式的批准，我也会欢迎明晰表达的正式承认或官方的签注文件。因为，这也许有助于延续和扩充现有的互联网科学文献信息的”开架阅览“项目。

欧文 J. 黑伯乐(Erwin J. Haeberle)
电子信箱：haeberlee@web.de

2007年3月

he freely accessible courses can be used by anyone anywhere at any time for any purpose. With millions of users in over 100 countries,
this curriculum is the largest e-learning project in the world.

Erwin J. Haeberle

An "Open Access" Curriculum in Sexual Health

Some of the  courses are also available in other languages. Just click on the respective flags:

      Introduction: Purpose and Use of this Curriculum

• 1. Basic Human Sexual Anatomy and Physiology
• 2. Human Reproduction
• 3. Physical Problems in Females and Males
• 4. Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Their Prevention
• 5. Sexual Dysfunctions and Their Treatment
• 6. Human Sexual Behavior

Copyright ©  2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Erwin J. Haeberle

Introduction: Purpose and Use of this Curriculum

I believe that open access to scientific information is the way of the future in our field. Following repeated recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), I am therefore offering a basic curriculum in sexual health. It is a global project consisting of six independent, but complementary courses that cover the most important practical issues.
These e-learning courses have several advantages:

1. They are and will remain freely accessible. 2. They are designed without any technical gimmicks and do not require the installation of special features like JavaScript or Flash. Thus, they can be accessed even on very old and very simple personal computers. 3. The courses do not require any preparation either on the part of the teacher or that of the student. Indeed, they are written in such a way that anyone capable of reading at college level can teach and study them without having any prior knowledge of the subject matter. 4. The courses are easy to use in the classroom. The teacher can simply project the course on a large screen. The whole content can then be taught step by step by simple mouse click. 5. They are also easy to use at home. The students can, by mouse click, proceed step by step at their own pace to the point where they feel ready to take their exams.

Taken together, the courses provide a body of basic knowledge about human sexuality. Students who have acquired this knowledge can appropriately be awarded a certificate or diploma. If amended and expanded by a degree-granting institution, the curriculum can also lead to a B.A. or even an M.A.
Please, note, however: I do not provide answers to the examination questions and cannot offer recognition for passing any of the courses. This is the privilege of institutions with human sexuality programs. At this time, several dozen such programs are being offered around the world. For details, click here. These academic programs can simply use the courses as they are now, or they can add their own material. They can also use them at the undergraduate or graduate level and award a certificate, diploma, or degree for their successful completion.

"Sexual Health" as an Academic Major or Minor

"Sexual Health" can be studied as a major subject in its own right or as a minor, depending on the the academic institution. Indeed, the WHO has recommended that "human sexuality should be encouraged to develop as an autonomous discipline in the education and training of health professionals" (For details, click here.) As a minor, it can be added to various established curricula in education, psychology, criminal law, law enforcement, sociology, social work, nursing, and public health, to name just a few. In some form, and in some special areas, it can also be a useful addition to the study of medicine.

Continuing Education

Obviously, the courses are also suitable for various forms of continuing education, especially for the additional qualification of marriage and family counselors, clinical psychologists, social workers, health workers, teachers, ministers of various religious denominations etc. The training can take place on a campus or at a training center, or it can be conducted electronically on a national or even international level. Some agencies and organizations have found it useful to put the courses - and even my entire web site - on CDs or DVDs and to distribute these among teachers and students who do not have internet access. This has been especially successful in developing countries.

Distance Education

Colleges, universities, or organizations wanting to use my courses for a distance study program will have to add an interactive element of their own. Naturally, this will require an initial investment on their part. It is an investment, however, that can bring enormous returns. It will certainly prove helpful to students living in countries that lack the necessary academic resources. Once the courses become interactive online, far-away students can apply, register, pay tuition and fees, contact faculty and fellow students, turn in assignments, take examinations, etc. By the same token, any such program that serves many foreign students is bound to profit financially. The courses may be especially useful for the world-wide sexological training of health care professionals and sex educators. This is also one of the reasons why I am offering the courses in several languages. At this time, my web site has over 7000 intensive readers every day (i.e. "visitors" reading longer than 30 minutes). If only 0.1 % of these are possible applicants for a distance education program, one is already talking about 7 candidates daily. Indeed, by attracting large numbers of potential students from all over the world, my free curriculum can produce a considerable income for academic institutions and professional organizations.

The Present Curriculum

The present curriculum is an original work, not a compilation of texts taken from other authors. It is therefore "all of one piece" and internally consistent. In fact, I have not only written the entire text, but have also - together with my designer - created most of the illustrations. In addition, I have used pictures from my own textbook and from my personal historical collection. Some illustrations have been supplied by government agencies; some have been taken from other public sources or have long been in the public domain. A few have been provided by colleagues.
The course structure is quite simple and will quickly reveal itself to every user after the first few mouse clicks. Overall, while concentrating on the basics, the curriculum tries to make its students aware not only of the biological, but also of the psycho-social aspects of human sexuality. The courses therefore paint a larger picture than most textbooks do. Even when anatomical, physiological, or medical issues are under discussion, I try to provide some social, historical, cultural, or ethnological background. Moreover, I have attempted to show that scientific and social progress does not just "happen", but is the collective work of specific individuals who deserve to be remembered. Whenever possible, I have introduced them with portraits and brief biographical notes. Having taught sexology at various American and European universities for over 30 years, I know (or knew) most of the modern pioneers personally, and many became good friends. Some are no longer among the living.

I have also taken great care to describe and explain everything in simple, but precise and objective language and to avoid prejudicial, illogical, misleading, and otherwise inappropriate scientific and professional terms. In this respect, my courses differ from most traditional texts. However, the content as such is not much different and reflects the current consensus in the field. In this sense, the entire curriculum is definitely a "mainstream" project, presenting the facts as they are seen by the vast majority of sexologists today. When covering controversial subjects, I have tried to keep a position of neutrality, presenting both sides of the issue. In short, I have not indulged my own preferences or ridden any personal hobbyhorse. Instead, I have simply tried to provide the information the students are likely to need.
As a matter of principle, I have not referenced well-known facts, familiar quotations and other standard texts that are easily found and verified in the internet with the help of search engines. A pedantic overabundance of footnotes would have needlessly cluttered the screen. Fortunately, my large web site contains a great deal of additional reading material. Thus, many links inside the courses lead directly to books and papers in my online library. This is a great advantage in countries and regions that lack adequate academic resources. If students follow all the links and read all items on the lists of additional reading, they will receive a more comprehensive education than they might have expected

Welcoming Additional Translations

Except for a number of books and papers in my online library, my entire web site is essentially the work of one person – myself. Thus, from the beginning, my curriculum in sexual health has also been my private, personal project. I have always paid for it out of my own pocket, although, over the years, some donations have been received and duly acknowledged. The translations have been the work of idealistic colleagues in various countries who share my vision of "open access" to scientific information. I never had the money to pay them. Some have given academic credit to their graduate students for translating larger or smaller sections of the courses. However, as will be noted, some of the translations are lagging far behind. Therefore, this appeal: Anyone who is qualified and interested in offering additional free translations is cordially invited to get in touch with me. I would also welcome donations that would allow me to pay for new translations into other languages or at least for their technical conversion to our format and design. Translations into languages that do not use Latin letters (Russian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi etc.) cannot be displayed on this web site without first being converted on the respective foreign computers. Such work will have to be paid for, but I simply do not have the necessary funds.

Expanding the Curriculum

Although the present curriculum provides a solid understanding of the basics, it can and should be expanded for a fuller appreciation of human sexuality in all of its facets. For example, it would be very useful to add at least the following courses:

       - Gender: The Psychosocial Roles of Females and Males
       - Sexual Orientation
       - Marriage and the Family
       - Sexual Conformity and Sexual Deviance

I regret that, at this time, I am unable to offer courses on these important topics. In the meantime, I can only refer interested readers to the relevant chapters in my textbook. Another very informative course would be one on the History of Sexology. Again, for the time being, I must refer readers to the respective sections of my web site. I do hope that, at some time in the future, I will find the necessary support for writing these courses as well.

At this point, however, after years of financing my online curriculum myself, I can no longer pay for additions. Anyone who has tried to start and run a project like this discovers sooner or later that it requires a great deal of money. This is money I simply do not have. Very reluctantly, I have therefore come to the conclusion that I cannot put any more courses online unless and until the necessary funds materialize. Unfortunately, so far, my numerous attempts to obtain such funds have not been successful.

Outlook

I believe that, in the long run, it will not be possible to keep scientific information restricted to paying customers. Eventually, all of it will become freely available in the internet and other electronic media. There will be only two obvious exceptions: 1. Research that is classified by governments and 2. research that is undertaken by private companies and kept secret for business reasons. Governments will always try to protect its secrets from foreign spies, just as businesses will try to prevent industrial espionage.
However, scientific research publicly supported, conducted and discussed in universities does not fall into either of these categories. Such research has always been published in print, but the new electronic media are expanding its reach and increasing the speed of its distribution. They are also changing the economic ground rules, because they can make all public research freely accessible to anyone who is interested. Still, so far, few academic institutions seem to have grasped the implications of the electronic revolution. Most of them continue to restrict their information to their own pre-paying students. Yet increasingly these same students can find comparable or even identical information free of charge in the internet, very often in updated form. A similar observation can be made with regard to the publishers of scientific journals. Some of them sense that the economic ground is shifting beneath their feet. Therefore, they insist on owning the copyright to all articles they publish and try to restrict access to subscribers or pre-paying online readers. Quite clearly, this is not in the interest of their authors who receive neither honoraria nor royalties and who would welcome more readers. Indeed, the unpaid authors will eventually come to see this arrangement as an unnecessary obstacle to the free exchange of ideas. Since many of the journals are the official organs of scientific organizations and are largely financed through membership fees, the members will one day realize that they can "cut out the middleman" and reach a much larger readership by publishing freely accessible issues directly online.

I am convinced that, in the end, the remaining resistance to "open access" will prove useless. Indeed, thanks to powerful sponsors, some of the world's best universities (Harvard, MIT) already provide valuable information at no cost to the reader. Similarly, more and more free online journals offer serious, peer-reviewed scientific articles. Given the growing world-wide demand for higher education and its increasing cost, the general trend seems clear: Libraries will not have the money for the purchase of every new book and journal subscription. Neither will electronic journals be able to charge reader's fees. After all, once a text is available in the internet, it is easily copied by "authorized" readers and distributed to "unauthorized" friends and colleagues, and these, in turn, can do the same. Trying to prevent this kind of multiplication will prove to be a futile exercise. This means that, in the future, scientific articles will either be free and online, or they will find no readers and will end up being ignored. For this reason alone, important scientists and scholars will insist on letting their own texts appear in the internet free of charge. By the same token, professors will no longer be able to give standard lectures in overcrowded classrooms when their colleagues in other cities or countries make the same content freely available in the internet (again, Harvard and the MIT are harbingers of things to come). In view of the growing online competition, I also do not see a great future for the traditional textbook. In short: It may take some time, but eventually universities and academic authors will have no choice but to offer free access to all of their research and to look for alternative ways of financing its publication.

These are only some of the changes that the globalization of teaching and learning is likely to bring, but this is not the place to go into greater detail. Here, I just want to say that my entire web site is an attempt to anticipate the inevitable and to hasten its arrival. I also want to demonstrate to those interested in teaching sexual health that there is no need to re-invent the wheel. The above-mentioned WHO Reports contain very clear blueprints for action. They spell out who should learn what from whom and provide detailed outlines for the necessary courses. I have simply been following their lead.
It is now up to those active in this field to take advantage of my offer. Colleges, universities, professional associations, national and international agencies as well as non-governmental organizations – they all are invited to make full use of my courses. All I ask in return is some feedback and acknowledgment. If warranted, I would also welcome some expressly stated recognition or official endorsement. This might be helpful in obtaining support for the continuation and expansion of the present project.

March 2007

Erwin J. Haeberle
haeberlee@web.de