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Foucault History of sexuality Assignment 7

In part one, Foucault says that at the beginning of the 17th century people were more liberal in the way they discussed and felt about sexuality. It wasn’t something that was as stigmatized and kept a secret as it later became because of the Victorian bourgeoisie. Sex was now seen as having a purpose which was to reproduce only. It became linked to the home and conjugal families. The beginning of capitalism happened around the same time the public opinion of sex shifted. A focus on sexuality went against the belief of focusing on work, and production. Labor capacity was said to have been exploited under capitalism. Everything became about production and not really pursuing pleasure. This connection could be tied into sexuality being repressed and people feeling like sex is only for married couples to make children. The repression of sexuality made talking about sex something that was somewhat revolutionary. It was going against what people were raised to do believe was the right thing to do. Foucault believes that the reason people speak of sex in a formal way today traces back to how it was repressed then and how it is still repressed now.People are very aware that by speaking on this topic is breaking an unwritten rule. It goes against what is socially acceptable and children are raised to see it as taboo. Sex also began to be linked to sin. Linking it to sin changed it from being a social issue to a moral issue. Foucault says that the process to free ourselves from the repression of sexuality will take a long time, and we will have to condemn it many times in order to see a change in how it is viewed and talked about. The prohibition of sexuality is a very complicated subject that involves censoring but isn’t limited to and shouldn’t be reduced to the surface level negativity.

Questions

1)Foucault mentions that we speak of sex in a solemn way nowadays. Do you agree or would you say that we are reverting back to the times of the early 17th century where people were more frank about sexuality?

2)Capitalism and the repression of sexuality happened around the same time. If we moved away from being a capitalist nation do you think it will impact how people view and talk about sex?