>>> class MyClass:
...     def myPublicMethod(self):
...             print 'public method'
...     def __myPrivateMethod(self):
...             print 'this is private!!'
... 
>>> obj = MyClass()
>>> obj.myPublicMethod()
public method
>>> obj.__myPrivateMethod()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in 
AttributeError: MyClass instance has no attribute '__myPrivateMethod'
>>> dir(obj)
['_MyClass__myPrivateMethod', '__doc__', '__module__', 'myPublicMethod']
>>> obj._MyClass__myPrivateMethod()
this is private!!