History Department Response to Student Feedback
HSTY3024 - Histories of Sexuality II (2005)

Unit Coordinator: Associate Professor Robert Aldrich

The overall satisfaction with this unit was 4.56 out of 5.

This seminar unit was the second half of a year-long ‘Histories of Sexuality’ in a class of 18 students (including third- and fourth-year students, as well as postgraduates). After a more chronological treatment in first semester, in second semester the organization was thematic, looking at such topics as marriage planning in Britain, sexual violence in America, sexuality in Asia, sex in art, and fetishism. Many of the themes had been suggested in a survey of first-semester students, although there were some students who only joined the unit in second semester. Students said that they benefited very much from presentations by visiting academics from Sydney, Macquarie, Oxford and Amsterdam universities, as well as the director of a documentary film on homosexuality in Australia; visitors often talked about their own recently published books or research in progress. Students felt that the workload – participation in the seminar, a research essay on a topic designed by each student, and an oral group presentation – was appropriate, although some legitimately regretted that more time was not available for discussion. The exceptionally high satisfaction with this unit testifies both to interest in the topic of sexual history and to the commitment and engagement of the students who enrolled in the seminar.

Unfortunately, because of the lecturer’s other commitments, this unit will not be offered in either 2006 or 2007.