‘—

assignment 8

Kiersten Ahle

Assignment #8

In part four, chapter four of “History of Sexuality” written by Foucault, he emphasizes “technology of sex” (1978:123) Back then, sex was a topic people would only discuss in the privacy of their own homes. It was not a topic to be talked about in public, as most people considered it to be a sin. During the end of the eighteenth century, a completely new technology of sex had emerged. Through pedagogy, medicine, and economics, it made sex a concert of the state. Sex had become a matter that required the social body as a whole, and to be placed under surveillance. Due to medicine being a concern regarding sex, its objective was the sexual physiology peculiar to women and the regulation of births. Foucault technology of sex was a repressive theory. Since the topic of sex so repressed, it became a topic that people wanted to talk about since it was not allowed. Sex was an important topic of confession within the church because they would confess the sinful act of sex or anything related to sex, since they know it was wrong. The discussion of sex is still repressed today, and I believe it always will be. Many people learn about sex education today in school during health class. I do not think sex should be repressed, instead I think it is something people should be able to talk about so they know knowledge about it and know all the facts and risk that comes along with it. When Foucault talks about sex and medicine, he tries to correlate how medicine can control sex, especially within the lower economic class. The upper class had many theories that they were trying to force upon the lower class in terms of repression and sex. The technology of sex was trying to make the topic of sex not the social norm.