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Foucault's History of Sex

            Foucault sought to explore the history of sex in three volumes of his book History of Sex namely: The Will to Knowledge (La volonté de savoir), The Use of Pleasure (l'usage des plaisirs), and The Care of the Self (le souci de soi). .
             In his books he mainly tries to tell us that what we perceive of sex today and the paradox about how we talk about not talking about sex is not something that is of recent coming but has been in the society for quite some time. He says that in the 17th and the 18th century, the bourgeoisie actively tried to confine sex to something that should be talked about with specific people at specific times. And he thinks this lead to an undercurrent. He believed that this was just the show of power that the upper class tried to have on people. Keeping in mind that fact this was a time when they were going to rule a population and not just a group of people that infested threats about population control et al. He believes this the reason why they sought to keep sex as something that happened behind closed doors and between man and wife. But this was also ironic of them as they themselves practiced sex as something that wasn't taboo which according to me only strengthens Foucault's arguments that the bourgeoisie class used sex mainly to control the sexual urges of people that might have lead them to deal with major social problems. .
             He also highlights how efforts were made to confine sex to medicine and prostitution so as to actively take part in such feelings of sexual urges but not publicly. This also explicates Sigmund Freud's chief concepts are based on sexuality. He came from a time when the ruling class basically asked the world of medicine to talk about sex and explore sex and hence that is that Freud did. He sought to explain psychology as a part of sexuality and thus his debatable concepts. Also such undercurrents of sexual talks were also present in classrooms where students were of course not allowed to talk about sex but the way the class was arranged the way they were seated, the dormitories et al all pointed towards the 'taboo' of sexuality.


Essays Related to Foucault's History of Sex

1. foucault

The History of Sexuality(1976), his most prominent work on the subject, was published at a time when there was an atmosphere in society of repressed and censored sexuality. Foucault was curious as to why there seemed to be almost a general silence on the topic, especially considering that sex was clearly not an experience that has been denied us as human beings. ... He conceded that since the 17th century there has been, in various forms, control of statements concerning sex. ... In The History of Sexuality, Foucault (1976, p.18) examines the relationship between confes...

  • Word Count: 808
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Michel Foucault on Sexuality and Cultural Norms

Michel Foucault's "The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality, Volume 1," is part one of a trilogy of works, which examines the evolution of discourse about sex and sexuality from the seventeenth century onwards. ... It will examine whether Foucault's works suggests a change in the paradigm society uses to think about sex/gender and sexuality. Foucault presents his reasoning in a clear and logical historical time line, in order to demonstrate evolution of the discourse about sex. ... Foucault reasons that this resulted in an explosion in the dialogue about sex. ... F...

  • Word Count: 1045
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. France

In The History of Sexuality, Foucault makes the same argument about our concept of "sexuality." By arguing that our concepts and self-image are fluid and contingent on quirks of history, Foucault adopts a position that has been termed "post-structuralist." To a large extent, The History of Sexuality attempts to refute what Foucault calls the "repressive hypothesis": the claim that sex has been consistently repressed, and that we can only achieve political liberation by means of sexual liberation. ... Foucault disagrees with the claim that sex has been repressed and silenced. ... Part One ...

  • Word Count: 2008
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Foucault

The works of Michel Foucault are grounded heavily on genealogical process in which it illustrates a certain degree of historical studies, not merely to tell the origin of the issue and its transformation over time but to offer a new perspective. An innovative way of looking at things, unlike other philosophical schools of thought, which gives such prescription on doing things, Foucault's work offers a technique, a method that deals with specific problems posed by techniques of thinking. ... Foucault uses genealogy as an instrument to understand our everyday struggles in life. Discipline...

  • Word Count: 6472
  • Approx Pages: 26
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Freud

In every normal male or female individual, traces are found of the apparatus of the opposite sex. ... Foucault in The History of Sexuality" challenged the repression problem. ... The creation of the terms offered society a means to distinguish people: in relation to the way in which they had sex. ... Foucault contends that before they knew of "homosexual" past societies still viewed same sex relations as unnatural but tolerated the relations as something that could be had now and again. ... Within the context of Schnitzler's relationship between the sexes he explores the intrigue of bi...

  • Word Count: 994
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. The Normal Delinquint

Similar to this argument a new subject follows in "The History of Sexuality. ... Foucault dutifully remarks then, that pastoral discourse on the subject of sex becomes a "projection in literature"(1650) in a tell-all fashion of the later half of the century. ... Focusing in early history, less shame was placed on the body with a liberated attitude towards sex. ... Here Foucault argues that though there has been an increase in discourse on sex, it has been directed at reducing non-reproductive sexual practices and rendering sex economically useful and politically conservative practices. ......

  • Word Count: 1806
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Gender and Sexuality In Religion

In The History of Sexuality Michel Foucault provides his opinion on the "repressive hypothesis", which states that since the 17th century, sexuality has been repressed due to external forces such as society, law, politics, the institution of family, etc. ... To Foucault, the controlling of sex and sexuality represents power. ... Foucault also claims that all the talk about sex acted back upon us by affecting our sexual desires. ... To Foucault, sex, gender, and sexuality are all products of society. In "Sexuality", Jeffrey Kripal explains just how important sex was to many different religious...

  • Word Count: 1293
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Freud on homosexuality

In every normal male or female individual, traces are found of the apparatus of the opposite sex. ... Foucault in The History of Sexuality" challenged the repression problem. ... The creation of the terms offered society a means to distinguish people: in relation to the way in which they had sex. ... Foucault contends that before they knew of "homosexual" past societies still viewed same sex relations as unnatural but tolerated the relations as something that could be had now and again. ... Within the context of Schnitzler's relationship between the sexes he explores the intrigue of bi...

  • Word Count: 1043
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Freud On Homosexuality

In every normal male or female individual, traces are found of the apparatus of the opposite sex. ... Foucault in The History of Sexuality" challenged the repression problem. ... The creation of the terms offered society a means to distinguish people: in relation to the way in which they had sex. ... Foucault contends that before they knew of "homosexual" past societies still viewed same sex relations as unnatural but tolerated the relations as something that could be had now and again. ... Within the context of Schnitzler's relationship between the sexes he explores the intrigue of bi...

  • Word Count: 1042
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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