Dr Lucy Robinson, a Sussex history lecturer, was “blown away” to hear she was a finalist in the academic category of the Erotic Awards 2008 for her book Gay men and the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal got Political.
This year was the first year an academic category was included in the awards, which honour pioneers and thinkers in the erotic worlds of art, pleasure and politics and has kudos for all involved in or around the sex industry.
Dr Robinson’s book, which was the thesis of the PhD she undertook at Sussex, looks at the central role of gay men and gay activism in changing the status-quo since 1945.
The achievement has particular resonance at the University, which has a long and established history of studies in sex and sexuality.