Foucault Preoccupation With The Body Analysis

The confession is essential to our western understanding of female self-identification. In our modern, digital culture the confessor understands herself “to be empowered through telling her own story” to her viewers (169). This culture of digital visibility is defined by an “obsessive preoccupation with the body—a shift from the feminist ‘I’ articulated through voice to a post-feminist ‘I’ expressed through the body” (168). The preoccupation with the body creates a false sense of power. Real power, as articulated by Steven Lukes, exists in the hegemonic forces that predetermine the ways in which we perceive the confession within our cultural and digital landscape. In this paper I will analyze the confession in terms of the popular reality …show more content…
In the nineteenth century, discourse on sexuality became incorporated in “convents, schools, [and] military academies” as a form of human sciences related to health and happiness (Forrester 290). Through this movement, the term “sexuality” as a “property of bodies and as an object of knowledge” was created (290). Sexuality became the “secret of all secrets” and functioned as an “essential truth” to the individual. Thus, Foucault’s argument, compressed, explains that “in giving birth to the individual”, the essential truth of man, at the secret core of his being, lies his sexuality. Discourse on sexuality is essential to our understanding of freedom, truth, and individuality. Thus, one’s individuality is manifested in one’s knowledge and discourse in regards to one’s own sexuality. The act of confession is directly tied to an individual’s preoccupation with the body and the visible expression of the …show more content…
In his analysis of power and power relations, Steven Lukes proposes a definition of power that aligns with Gramsci’s “idea of ‘hegemony’” as a force that predetermines an individual’s ideas and interests (403). Lukes argues that under this definition of hegemonic power relations, observable conflict can disappear and the “processes and mechanisms involved” are no longer “intentional and active” but are rather predetermined by the beliefs and interests of higher authority or majority (403). Power is not detrimental to the “preferences or the grievances of those subject to it” but is instead characterized as working against an individual’s “real interests” (403). Under this definition, we recognize that power relations are not always intentional and observable. Hegemonic forces predetermine the beliefs and desires of the masses and thus, predetermine the ways in which we perceive the confession within our cultural and digital