At Merseburg University in Germany, students can study the subject of sex. After five semesters, you can become the holder of a "Master of sex." E&M met the director of the course, Prof. Dr. Harald Stumpe, in Berlin and asked him why people study sex at all, how sex is taught and whether he himself will ever have enough of the subject.

E&M: Professor Stumpe, you founded the first and only university course called "Master of Sex" in Germany. Why should people study sex?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: The aim of the whole thing is to prepare people for a job in the fields of Sex Education, Family Planning advice and Pregnancy advice. We train people to do group work with young people on the topics of sexuality, love and relationships.

E&M: Who can study with you?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: In theory anyone can study it, so long as they have a diploma or a bachelor degree. Then the studies they've completed ought to have a relevant focus: Psychology, Medicine, Sociology. In the end we try to cater for anyone who has completed studies in the social sciences at university.

E&M: What's on the time-table for the first semester?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: In the first semester we cover the basics in the various disciplines. The team which runs the course includes a psychologist, a sociologist and me - I'm originally a doctor. For the sociologists, the main question in the first semester is: how has the science of sex developed? As the doctor, I teach the medical basics.

E&M: If I want to teach sex education, I probably have to start by dealing with my own sexuality. What do you do about that?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: That's right. (laughs) We don't usually have to do much about that. It comes together with the group dynamic. In each year-group, there are about 25 people. When the students travel somewhere as a group for four days, obviously a lot goes on in the evenings, without us really having much access to it. In the afternoons, a topic is taught and the students often carry on discussing it for half the night. We open up a topic theoretically, and then the students reflect on it. They learn a lot about themselves like that. That's something I've also realised when a group comes to the end of a course. When I ask the students what they got out of the two years, they often say that a lot has changed in their concept of sexuality and in their sexual behavior.

E&M: In the past, you taught sex education in East Germany (the GDR). Was the attitude to sexuality different in socialist countries?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: My experience is that the GDR had a special status among the nations of the Eastern Bloc. Particularly when it comes to homosexuality. The emancipation movement started in the 80s in the GDR. After West Germany, where it started ten years earlier. Even the FDJ ("Free German Youth" ed.) opened itself up to this topic; there were youth clubs for gays and lesbians in all the bigger towns in the GDR. And the first film came out in 1989, at the end of October, "Coming out" by Heiner Carow. That was sensational at the time. Something like that would have been unthinkable in Russia. But essentially: the questions which children and young people have about sex today aren't so incredibly different from the ones they used to have. Children always want to know first of all, how does sex work, do I need sex, does it hurt, what does "gay" mean, etc.

E&M: Can I study sexuality anywhere else in Europe?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: Yes, there are other courses in Europe. But mostly they're very clinically orientated. It's a lot more to do with how to treat sexual problems. It's not about sex education or counselling.

E&M: Isn't it possible to have enough of the topic of sexuality?

Prof. Dr. Stumpe: You mean that personally, right? (laughs) My family have had enough of it, I think. My sister is a pregnancy conflict counsellor. I myself have worked in the same field for a long time and built up Profamilia (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Familienplanung, Sexualpädagogik und Sexualberatung., Ed.) in Thüringen. When we're together, we obviously often end up talking about pregnancy counselling or sex education. My sister's children do often say, "Oh no, not this topic again. Can't you talk about something other than sex?"

E&M: Professor Stumpe, thank you for the interview.

Cover photo: Fischer Sandra, www.youthphotos.eu