The History of Sexuality

Michel Foucault wrote The History of Sexuality , which is a three volume analysis of sexuality in the western world. Foucault balanced this archaeological approach with a genealogical approach that he borrowed from Nietzsche. In the first volume, Foucault explorers the “repressive hypothesis” in which he says that the history of sexuality over the past three hundred years or so has been a history of repression. Repression is a manner in which a person is barred from expressing his or her sexuality, this is more often linked with the feelings of shame and guilt, and can vary significantly between cultures and religious ethics. One’s sexuality was also believed to describe a great aspect about one’s character. Foucault claims that sex apart…

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…

(c) Explain Foucault 's view on "the repressive hypothesis". Discuss whether he believes there is, or has been, repression, what he wants to investigate, and the formation of sexual subjects. Provide examples. Over the years, the society has come across various views of sexuality. The views on sexuality has moved from a period of being freely expressive and open about our sex and sexuality to a period of repression and hypocrisy of such expressions. The repressive views were seen to arise in…

Gender and Sexuality in The History Boys and The Wasp Factory? Gender and sexuality and predominant themes within The History Boys and The Wasp Factory, both ideas are used as plot devices and are discussed frequently throughout the texts.The main focus of the two pieces feature male protagonist and in both text present the female as the “antagonist” or the least liked out the characters. The female characters are also catalysts to some events in the two texts. Sexuality, especially within The…

Throughout history, Asian women have been made into sinister, sexual beings. A long history of Asian women being degraded and viewed as nothing but sex workers, has led to them being viewed in an extremely hypersexualized light. In recent years, many people have become more aware of this issue, and it has become topic of debate. Many believe that allowing Asian women to act out their sexuality in ways that are reflective of racialized sexuality is harmful because it allows said stereotypes to…

In today’s world, sex is thought of as a natural part of life. We think of it as something that humans are born with. One’s sexuality is a defining aspect of his/her life. However, many scholars and thinkers alike have argued that sex is a man made thing. They believe that, for example, ancient Greece was before sexuality. In other words, sex is something that we have constructed for many reasons, and there was a time way back when where sexuality did not even exist. Scholars such as Michel…

Michel Foucault complicates notions of power and sexuality because of his interpretive framework of culture and the different and alternate meanings he assigns to phenomenon. On the other hand, his thinking is innovative in that he debunks former understandings of history and culture and forces us to shift paradigms and stretch our perceptions. In The History of Sexuality, Foucault advances several propositions about power as it relates to sexuality, discourse, and knowledge. In using power…

the section titled The Social Construction of Same-Sex Desire: Sin, Crime, Sickness, Sullivan opens up by stating that sexuality is not natural but rather socially constructed. Sullivan then goes on to trace back the history of sexuality to when sexologist first gave homosexuality a name. The points that Sullivan brings up are both very interesting and make a person think. According to Sullivan the idea that one sexuality is ‘normal’ as oppose to another is not viable since all types of…

For the greater part of the twentieth century, human sexuality was largely ignored as it was a focus of social research and reflection. Naturalist sexologists like Havelock Ellis recorded histories of reactions to sexuality but did little to explain why and how sexuality shaped human societies. On the other hand, sexologists who embraced the meta-theoretical approach like Ken Plummer fell short when it came to empirical evidence, because they relied too heavily on their theoretical constructs…

Daniel Wilburn Comm 340-75, Dr. Selene Phillips Scholar Prole September 29, 2015 Michel Foucault was a French historian and philosopher who focused on different subjects such as the connection between knowledge and power and tracing the roots of the contemporary thinking of sexuality. He is most known for his publications such as The History of Madness and The History of Sexuality. Michel Foucault was born in 1926 in Poitiers, located near Western France. He attended school for the first…