THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY
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'''The History of Sexuality''' is the title of a three-volume series of books by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault written in 1976. Originally published in French, the volumes are individually titled ''The Will to Knowledge'' (''Histoire de la sexualité, 1: la volonte de savoir''), ''The Use of Pleasure'' (''Histoire de la sexualite, II: l'usage des plaisirs''), and ''The Care of the Self'' (''Histoire de la sexualité, III: le souci de soi'').
The book seems to be influenced, among other works, by Sigmund Freud's ''Civilization and Its Discontents'' and Herbert Marcuse's ''Eros and Civilization''.
Three volumes of ''The History of Sexuality'' were published before Foucault's death in 1984. The first and most referenced volume, ''The Will to Knowledge'' (previously known as ''An Introduction'' in English — ''Histoire de la sexualité, 1: la volonté de savoir'' in French) was published in France in 1976, and translated in 1977, focusing primarily on the last two centuries, and the functioning of sexuality as an analytics of power related to the emergence of a science of sexuality (''scientia sexualis'') and the emergence of biopower in the West. In this volume he attacks the "repressive hypothesis," the widespread belief that we have, particularly since the nineteenth century, "repressed" our natural sexual drives. He shows that what we think of as "repression" of sexuality actually constituted sexuality as a core feature of our identities, and produced a proliferation of discourse on the subject.
The second two volumes, ''The Use of Pleasure'' (''Histoire de la sexualite, II: l'usage des plaisirs'') and ''The Care of the Self'' (''Histoire de la sexualité, III: le souci de soi'') dealt with the role of sex in Greek and Roman antiquity. The latter volume deals considerably with the ancient technological development of the hypomnema which was used to establish a permanent relationship to oneself. Both were published in 1984, the year of Foucault's death, the second volume being translated in 1985, and the third in 1986.
In his lecture series from 1979 to 1980 Foucault extended his analysis of government to its 'wider sense of techniques and procedures designed to direct the behaviour of men', which involved a new consideration of the 'examination of conscience' and confession in early Christian literature. These themes of early Christian literature seemed to dominate Foucault's work, alongside his study of Greek and Roman literature, until the end of his life. However, Foucault's death from AIDS left the work incomplete, and the planned fourth volume of his ''History of Sexuality'' on Christianity was never published. The fourth volume was to be entitled ''Confessions of the Flesh'' (''Les aveux de la chair''). The volume was almost complete before Foucault's death and a copy of it is privately held in the Foucault archive. It cannot be published under the restrictions of Foucault's estate. [1]
The fourth volumes existence was denied by Arnold Davidson, scholar and friend of Foucault.
In a well known passage of his work, Foucault noted that the development of the notion of sexuality organized sex as a "fictitious unity" of "disparate parts, functions, behaviours, and feelings with no natural or necessary relation among them"; therefore the conception of what is "natural" is a social construct.[2][3] To escape this cultural "sexuality" Foucault suggest to focus on "bodies and pleasures".[4]
The construction of sexual meanings, is an instrument by which social institutions (religion, marketing, the educational system, psychiatry, etc.) control and shape human relationships.[5]
"The [conjugal] family organization, precisely to the extent that it was insular and heteromorphous with respect to the other power mechanisms, was used to support the great "maneuvers" employed for the Malthusian control of the birthrate, for the populationist incitements, for the medicalization of sex and the psychiatrization of its nongenital forms.[6]
"Sex, albeit hidden we are told, has been the privileged theme of confession from the Christian penance to the present day. The transformation of sex into , Michel Foucault, edited by Jeremy R. Carrette, , , , 1999, ISBN 0-415-92362-X
2. Strozier, Robert M. (2002) ''Foucault, Subjectivity, and Identity: : Historical Constructions of Subject and Self'' pp.101-2, 108, 118-120
3. Foucault 1976, p.154-5
4. Foucault 1976, p.157
5. Sexuality and its Discontents; Meanings, Myths, and Modern Sexualities, Weeks, Jeffrey, , , Routledge, , pp.176-8
6. Michel Foucault ''The History of Sexuality'' vol I, chap. IV, sect. ''Method'', rule 3, p.99
★ History of sex
★ biopolitics
★ state racism
★ Pierre Hadot
★ Grotesque body
★ Summaries of the book: [2] [3]
★ Roy Hornsby (November 2001) Modern society, according to Foucault, "put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex"
The book seems to be influenced, among other works, by Sigmund Freud's ''Civilization and Its Discontents'' and Herbert Marcuse's ''Eros and Civilization''.
Three volumes of ''The History of Sexuality'' were published before Foucault's death in 1984. The first and most referenced volume, ''The Will to Knowledge'' (previously known as ''An Introduction'' in English — ''Histoire de la sexualité, 1: la volonté de savoir'' in French) was published in France in 1976, and translated in 1977, focusing primarily on the last two centuries, and the functioning of sexuality as an analytics of power related to the emergence of a science of sexuality (''scientia sexualis'') and the emergence of biopower in the West. In this volume he attacks the "repressive hypothesis," the widespread belief that we have, particularly since the nineteenth century, "repressed" our natural sexual drives. He shows that what we think of as "repression" of sexuality actually constituted sexuality as a core feature of our identities, and produced a proliferation of discourse on the subject.
The second two volumes, ''The Use of Pleasure'' (''Histoire de la sexualite, II: l'usage des plaisirs'') and ''The Care of the Self'' (''Histoire de la sexualité, III: le souci de soi'') dealt with the role of sex in Greek and Roman antiquity. The latter volume deals considerably with the ancient technological development of the hypomnema which was used to establish a permanent relationship to oneself. Both were published in 1984, the year of Foucault's death, the second volume being translated in 1985, and the third in 1986.
In his lecture series from 1979 to 1980 Foucault extended his analysis of government to its 'wider sense of techniques and procedures designed to direct the behaviour of men', which involved a new consideration of the 'examination of conscience' and confession in early Christian literature. These themes of early Christian literature seemed to dominate Foucault's work, alongside his study of Greek and Roman literature, until the end of his life. However, Foucault's death from AIDS left the work incomplete, and the planned fourth volume of his ''History of Sexuality'' on Christianity was never published. The fourth volume was to be entitled ''Confessions of the Flesh'' (''Les aveux de la chair''). The volume was almost complete before Foucault's death and a copy of it is privately held in the Foucault archive. It cannot be published under the restrictions of Foucault's estate. [1]
The fourth volumes existence was denied by Arnold Davidson, scholar and friend of Foucault.
| Contents |
| Famous passages |
| References |
| See also |
| External links |
Famous passages
In a well known passage of his work, Foucault noted that the development of the notion of sexuality organized sex as a "fictitious unity" of "disparate parts, functions, behaviours, and feelings with no natural or necessary relation among them"; therefore the conception of what is "natural" is a social construct.[2][3] To escape this cultural "sexuality" Foucault suggest to focus on "bodies and pleasures".[4]
The construction of sexual meanings, is an instrument by which social institutions (religion, marketing, the educational system, psychiatry, etc.) control and shape human relationships.[5]
"The [conjugal] family organization, precisely to the extent that it was insular and heteromorphous with respect to the other power mechanisms, was used to support the great "maneuvers" employed for the Malthusian control of the birthrate, for the populationist incitements, for the medicalization of sex and the psychiatrization of its nongenital forms.[6]
"Sex, albeit hidden we are told, has been the privileged theme of confession from the Christian penance to the present day. The transformation of sex into , Michel Foucault, edited by Jeremy R. Carrette, , , , 1999, ISBN 0-415-92362-X
2. Strozier, Robert M. (2002) ''Foucault, Subjectivity, and Identity: : Historical Constructions of Subject and Self'' pp.101-2, 108, 118-120
3. Foucault 1976, p.154-5
4. Foucault 1976, p.157
5. Sexuality and its Discontents; Meanings, Myths, and Modern Sexualities, Weeks, Jeffrey, , , Routledge, , pp.176-8
6. Michel Foucault ''The History of Sexuality'' vol I, chap. IV, sect. ''Method'', rule 3, p.99
See also
★ History of sex
★ biopolitics
★ state racism
★ Pierre Hadot
★ Grotesque body
External links
★ Summaries of the book: [2] [3]
★ Roy Hornsby (November 2001) Modern society, according to Foucault, "put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex"
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