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Assignment 8

In chapter 4 of Foucault’s novel History of Sexuality, he discusses the two different time periods of situations that involved sexuality. The first being the prohibition time period, where it was required of the people to conceal all or most of their body and they also had a lack of freedom of speech. The second being a less repressive time period, where the government were less strict on certain laws.

Additionally, the usage of medicine to treat sexual disorders during this time period was widely prevalent, and was used for adverse things other than control, such as creating a flourishing economy.

Foucault also explains that the repression of poorer class through sexual exploitation ultimately led to a greater power in government and allowed them to explore new methods of repression. This occurred by first imposing the idea that differences in sexuality of children and females were all apart of a certain genealogy. This evoked fear in those who did not want to have a change in sexuality and led to preventative measures.

Foucault also describes the usage of the term blood as a metaphor for how the caste system evolved. He compared it to the concept of sex, to prove biological relations and it’s genesis.  One of the major goals of the Bourgeoisie at this time were to provide themselves with a body and a sexuality. The usage of sexuality was to empower the body.

Foucault states that repression has manifested sexuality into becoming a taboo like culture.

Dating back to the Victorian Era, the idea of having to confess everything that one has done, and analyze all of his or her actions, further pushed the idea of a different culture in sexuality.

Moreover, Foucault explains that there were so many things that could have been changed during this time period without exclusively changing the political ideologies of their government.