Foucault The History Of Sexuality Analysis

In The History of Sexuality, Foucault approaches two perspectives of sexuality as seen throughout different societies; the ‘science of sexuality’ and ‘erotic art’. Both of these representations of sexuality can be seen as a significant contribution to societies’ harsh judgment towards weight loss. A main focus of Foucault’s claim can be related to the suppression of urges in both the sexual sense and the nourishment sense. Additionally, Foucault discusses the role of ‘preserving health’ to reproduce that derived from the sexualization of a woman’s body. This idea of objectifying the body of women in order to be aesthetically pleasing to a sexual partner can also be seen in Prager’s Our Barbies, Ourselves, in which Prager discusses that this …show more content…
This new shift of view through all societies, both in societies with the ‘erotic art’ or ‘science of sexuality’ perspective, emphasizes the fact that women have become more subject to containing their body a certain way that is aesthetically pleasing and that this in turn is the foundation of sexuality or the object that controls it. Foucault drifts into the power of sexuality, and women’s role in this new control in society. “What are these strategies about? A struggle against sexuality? Or an attempt to control it? Actually, it is rather the production of sexuality. It should not be conceived of as a distinction founded in nature that power attempts to subdue, or as a dark domain that knowledge attempts to gradually uncover. It is the name that can be given…” (Foucault 105) Foucault believed that these new notions that stated women held the control for sexuality, was to create a way to preserve health and reproduction. This directly correlates to the increase in the mindset of women who believe that they need to be physically attractive enough to be sexualized by others if they want a partner in life, therefore ironically leading to unhealthy habits of food …show more content…
In Foucault’s text, he states that the suppression of sexuality leads to confession, and that is what makes up sexuality. This is how women control their own physical attractiveness as well. Furthermore, Foucault continues with his claim that the shift in sexualizing women was largely due to the ‘science of sexuality’ point of view which enforces the claim that people need to preserve their health in order to be eligible for reproduction. This poses a problem for women who lose control to sustain that claim, which can be seen in Prager’s text as a result of the oversexualization of women’s bodies in the media. Every day, people are bombarded by the harsh judgment of society that attempts to dictate the way women need to look. Everyone is constantly told how they should appear; they can chose to control this situation whichever way they want by either following through with what ‘society’ deems to be desired, and therefore letting go of their control over their own bodies, or they can chose to follow their own paths and take charge over their