Michel Foucault Research Paper

All of these concepts of heterosexism, masculine gender performance, and racial identity can be tied back to the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness. In Compulsoy Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled Existence, McRuer introduces the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness in tandem with Rich’s conception of compulsory heterosexuality, summing it up with: “Like compulsory heterosexuality, then, compulsory able-bodiedness functions by covering over, with the appearance of choice, a system in which there actually is no choice” (371). Instead of arguing these as separate points, however, McRuer goes on to explain how both compulsions work together to create this idea of what has been deemed

Compulsory heterosexuality was originally written in part to “challenge the erasure of lesbian existence from so much of scholarly feminist literature, an erasure which I felt (and feel) to be not just anti-lesbian, but anti-feminist in its consequences, and to distort the experience of heterosexual women as well,” Rich states in Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (1980). The assumption made by Rossi, that women are “innately” sexually oriented only toward men, and that made by Lessing, that the lesbian is simply acting out of her bitterness toward men, are by no means theirs alone; these assumptions are widely current in literature and in the social sciences. (Rich,

Jean-Baptiste was shy about his nose ability until he met an owner of a perfumery. Then Jean-Baptiste nose ability was honored rather than being shamed. Jean-Baptiste life was preparing him for the moment he was waiting for his whole entire life, which was being able to use his freaky nose smeller enhancer and not being called “ a strange child “

Jean-Michel Basquiat was ahead of his time. Basquiat had many critics who deemed his artwork as child-like and did not view his art as successful. Critics were mostly unaware of the meaning of Basquiat’s art due to his ambiguity about his pieces. Basquiat did not like to explain his work. His artwork speaks for itself in many ways, about different topics from different angles. Perhaps if the critics understood the iconography behind Basquiat’s works they would understand him a little better. Basquiat definitely broke boundaries pushing the envelope addressing things others might have not. The misconceptions of Basquiat’s unorthodox artwork caused him to be an outcast in the art world.

Heterosexuality refers to the attraction (romantic or sexual) towards the opposite sex. Adrienne Rich takes a lesbian feminist point of view in her essay and argues that heterosexuality is not natural. She believes that compulsive heterosexuality emerges from the submission of women to men. What Rich refers to as compulsive heterosexuality may also be known as social constructionism. Social constructionism is a theory that argues that what we have come to know as “natural” about ourselves in terms of our bodies is actually socially constructed. Groups and people associate meanings to body parts, feelings, sensations, “make erotic acts into social identities, and create norms distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable sexualities.”.

Michel Foucault saw history as a collection of innovative ideas, it wasn’t about the accuracy of the past, but rather exploring what was done. He was one of the first philosophers to acknowledge social features like self-identity or expression as “cultural constructions that vary throughout time and space, and thus they are worthy of historical exploration.” For example, women, prisoners, disabled individuals and homosexuals face stipulated power, constraints and control exerted over them during the nineteenth century and even now. Foucault’s power/knowledge concept is both productive and restrictive. It limits what individuals can do, while also opening new ways of acting and thinking about ourselves. By what means is power implemented, and is the role of power more extensive in the 21st

In the interwar period, concepts of sexuality and gender were being beginning to shift as women began entering the workforce and taking on more ‘masculine’ traits. While men were coming back from the war and seen as “weakened” men. The need to define the essential difference between gender also worked to define and confine homosexual practices into identities and into the category of ‘abnormal.’ First, I will discuss post-war anxieties and male emasculation and how it defined the essential difference between heterosexuality and homosexuality on the basis of gender and class. Next I will discuss how these male-anxieties constrained heterosexual women and lesbianism in the working and middle-class, while defining heterosexual practices as biologically

Political institutions are supposed to be known for their assistance to others, as well as, standing for human dignity and equality for all. Adrienne Rich argues in her work, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, that heterosexuality is a violence political institution that is oppressing women of their opportunities and experiences. This statement is something that I don’t understand and what I believe to be false. Heterosexuality was something that once oppressed women, but in today’s society sexualities are slowly moving away from titles and becoming something that is viewed as a spectrum.

Religion is potentially one of the single most influential concepts in our history as people. Power in religion divides social groups and those groups contain a tiny portion of a ruling elite group who make use of power and control others. In social groups, individuals who are inferior or subordinate are dealt with as subjects by the ones who exert more control and are compelled to accept societal norms free willingly while those who are superior hold power. A Pentecostal church uses powerful mechanisms such as internal surveillance or panopticism to keep their believers in a well-disciplined society. In this essay I look at the way power is exerted throughout the ritual at Kennedy Road Tabernacle in a Pentecostal church, demonstrating how those in power have control over the ones who are inferior or subordinate. Throughout this examination, I will use the theories of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault to analyze the ways in which power is exerted within the members of this community.

Ethics has been studied from different spectrums throughout time whether political or moral based, a collective or individual effort, philosophers have studied theses values based on what is right and wrong. One thinker who is not commonly seen as a philosopher but referred to in countless works is Michel Foucault. Michel Foucault was a French historian and Philosopher and is known more for his works of “histories of medical and social sciences” (Gutting 1). This unique prospective and transition of his works as being looked at solely in his field of psychology and history to a philosophy perspective translate into his works. Foucault was a political

The second essay by Adrienne Rich about “compulsory heterosexuality” argues that the only acceptable form of sexual relationship is only between a man and a woman. She claims that heterosexuality is not innate and only a product of different social constructs. Furthermore, she states that it served as a way to pacify the women and benefit from it for the idea simply leaves the woman to be submissive to the dominance of the male culture. This idea disempowers women and gives false consciousness. One example given was the male identification of women which means the internalization of the culture and the values of the oppressor. In simpler words, it is the act of women putting the well-being on the man above theirs. Therefore, male-dominated

French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, was born in Poitiers, France October 15, 1926. He was the professor of the History of Systems of Thought and also was the founder of Groupe d’information sur les prisons He wrote “ Introduction” to Dream and Existence by Ludwig Binswanger who was a Heideggerian psychiatrist and wrote “Malasle mentale et personalite” which was a short book on mental illness. He supported structuralist and poststructuralist movements and also protested on behalf of homosexuals. Some of the things he studied and wrote books for was Discipline and Punishment, The History of Sexuality, Madness and Civilization, The Order of Things, The Archaeology, The Birth of The Clinic, The Birth of Biopolitics, Society Must Be Defended, Power/ Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, Security, Territory, Population,, Aesthetics Method and Epistemology, This is not a Pipe, Fearless Speech and so many more. He was an early victim of AIDS, which lead to his death in Paris on June 25, 1984, but his work still impacts us today and others after him including: Gilles Deleuze, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Erving Goffman and Georges Canguilhem. One thing

One ability history has, is providing an understanding of the importance of power with discipline. Bentham’s panoptican allows one to understand this importance. While it focuses on efficiency and utility of power, it injects the fear of punishment into the prisoners. Foucault suggests we use this method of discipline today in many institutions such as school and hospitals to manage others behaviour. As a result we obtain a certain self-awareness. We think about our actions in the fear of someone who is watching. In turn, we discipline ourselves. Foucault uses history to show punishment through physical pain and how power used more humane ways of punishment. Foucault suggests that physical pain is still present. When looking at the death penalty, the state still kills using methods of medication and sedation. The visible torture isn’t shown to the public. However the criminal’s soul is in distress. Trial becomes the public spectacle instead of the punishment. While members of the public participate within the trial to help reach a fair verdict. Foucault suggests that the system uses its power today in order to control its

Michel Foucault was born on October 15, 1926 in Poitiers, France. He completed his studies from Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) in Paris from 1946 to 1950, where he studied psychology and philosophy. Foucault is known for his critiques of various social foundations, like psychiatry, medicine and the prison framework. Furthermore for his speculations on the history of sexuality. His general speculations concerning power and the connection between power and knowledge, and in addition his thoughts concerning “discourse” in connection to the historical backdrop of western thought, have been broadly examined. This essay highlights his work “discipline and punish”.

2According to The Roots of Gay Oppression, gay oppression hasn’t always existed. Oppression of gays, lesbians, and all sexual minorities was caused by modern capitalism. Capitalism created material conditions for men and women to lead self-governing sexual lives, while still imposing heterosexual norms on society to supposedly maintain economic, ideological, and sexual order. In recent years they have used to sell fashion while homophobic laws defend the discrimination of the very same gays. Gay oppression under capitalism only serves to divide working class people in their fight for economic and social justice. The left is fighting for world where sexuality is simply a personal matter, without legal or material limitations. Homosexual behaviors are thought to be as old as humans but it wasn’t until capitalism came along did it become a problem to live outside the traditional nuclear family. As gay historian John D’Emilio put it, “What we call "homosexuality" (in the sense of the distinguishing traits of "homosexuals"), for example, was not considered a unified set of acts, much less a set of qualities defining particular persons, in pre-capitalist societies.... Heterosexuals and homosexuals are involved in social "roles" and attitudes which pertain to a particular society, modern capitalism” (Wolf, 2004).According to The Roots of Gay Oppression, under capitalism sexuality went from being a private matter regulated by traditions of the community to a public affair of the