The History Of Sexuality, By Michel Foucault

Theodore Dalrymple, in the essay “All Sex, All the Time” reflects on the change of view of the people about sex and how it has lead people into more confusion and conflict than before. Dalrymple’s real name being Anthony Daniels, he picked up the pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple for the purpose of his essays. There were times when virginity was a pride to men and women. However, it still prevails in some countries, this custom and the people have been changing. He states that the world is now free to enjoy sexual pleasures without any fear of the myths and taboos that existed in history. Although people feel that they are satisfied and are free to choose this path of life, sex has lead people into “confusion, contradiction, and conflict” states Dalrymple (Dalrymple 1).

In Foucault’s work “The Body and Sexuality” Foucault suggests, power no longer asserts itself as a deduction, as a "right of death." The primary interest of power now is

have looked at the history of sexuality since the 18th century in what Foucault calls

In a decade that will be surely known as one of grand feminist success it seems worthwhile mentioning that prostitution is a new feminist issue. According to “Women Have the Rights” many sex workers and feminist activists see the decriminalization of prostitution as a human rights initiative for women to regain control over their bodies. These third wave feminists find sex an issue that should be more widely discussed. Large leaps in pornography such as female filmmakers and feminist porn stars point to an ideal that consensual sex work is just another fore front in the battle for gender equality. Legalization of prostitution leads to more government oversight requiring

It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,

Feminists are concerned whether or not a prostitute controls her own sexual identity. Others believe prostitution is degrading, and sexual slavery towards woman while someone like Martha Nussbaum, believe its not threatening a woman anymore more than any other paid job. Where do you stand when it comes to prostitution? Personally I’m concerned with the moral factors and the harm it brings to women both physically and mentally. Throughout this paper I will examine the issues and questions which arise from Nussbaum’s paper, “Whether From Reason or Prejudice: Taking Money for Bodily Service” in order to help come to a conclusion on whether or not prostitution is something society should control through the use of the criminal law.

The sex industry is highly divided between those who call themselves “sex workers”, and former prostitutes who call themselves “survivors” (Glazer 340). Women should have the right to choose what they do for a living, including prostitution. The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.

Legalizing prostitution has become a vexed topic of discussion when it comes to feminism. Approximately 80% of prostitutes around the world are women who are either deeply affected by their sexual career negatively or not affected by the business at all. There are several cases in this debate that imply that once prostitution is legalized, the tremendous amount of women involved in prostitution would be elevated in terms of feminism, would be protected, and would help the economy. While legalizing prostitution can have its positive effects on the country and it’s economy, it is no lie that this business could possibly negatively impact someone’s life. It also leaves the position of women, universally, a step back from achieving full equality

The paper has the following structure. In section, I will explain what critics have to say about legalization of prostitution. In section 2, I will argue for legalization and how it comes at a far less risk than keeping the law the way it is. In section, I will talk about possible objections my view and give a response.

The documentary Buying Sex opens up the viewer's mind to the bigger picture of prostitution. Everyone in the film has a bias on whether or not they believe prostitution should be legal or illegal or even if it is legal, what actions should be taken to protect those who wish to sell their body for sex. It takes former prostitutes who have gotten out of the business and who believe that prostitution negatively impacted their lives and tells why they felt some laws in Canada are not adequate enough to protect women’s rights. On the opposite spectrum of that, former and current prostitutes who enjoy their work, go to court to legalize prostitution.

In The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how during the 19th century with the raise of new societies, the discourse or knowledge about sex was not confronted with repulsion but it “put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex” (Foucault 69). In fact, this spreading of discourse on sexuality itself gives a clear account of how sexuality has been controlled and confined because it was determined in a certain kind of knowledge that carries power within it. Foucault reflects on the general working hypothesis or “repressive hypothesis,” and how this has exercised power to suppress people’s sexuality. It has power on deciding what is normal or abnormal and ethical or unethical

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

In the case of Spargo’s interpretation of Foucault the hegemonic ideal sexual subject is that of a straight man, who is presumably white and middle class. According to Foucault the category of homosexual emerged in the 19th century out of the development of the field of sexology, when medicine replaced religion as the primary producer of discourse on sexuality, and enforcer of (hetero)sexual norms . Foucault argues that despite their relative position individuals categorised as homosexual were able to create their own discourse (or counter-discourses) to the narrative on unnaturalness promoted by sexology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thus finding agency within constraining discourses . In this way sexuality and sexual subjects are constructed, understood and questioned through the discourse produced by those individuals and institutions with access to power.

One of the oldest legal debates comes from one of the world's oldest profession, prostitution, there is no denying that the sex industry has taken international dimensions and is recognized as an economic motor for many countries. As countries around the world debate the merits of legalizing or at least decriminalizing prostitution. The following questions should be addressed. Would legalization reduce some of the inequalities and abuse suffered by the women involved? On the other hand, by legitimizing prostitution, would society reverse decades of work to promote human rights and improve the status of women? On the surface, this looks like a rehashing of a timeless debate. However, it is not. The question is no longer about

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian, social theorist, philologist and literary critic whose work had a tremendous impact on several disciplines. He was not a sociologist by training, but he worked diligently on sociological issues and otherwise had significant influence on the work of other sociologists. One of his most famous works is the The History of Sexuality, in which he examines the emergence of "sexuality" as a discursive object and separate sphere of life. According to Foucault, the idea that everyone has a sexuality is relatively a recent development in the West. In Volume 1, Foucault discusses the relationship between sex and power in a historical context. He states that the ways in which humans think about sexuality is primarily shaped by the "repressive hypothesis," which claims that Western society had suppressed sexuality from the 17th to the mid-20th century, and this was due to the rise of capitalism and the bourgeois society. There are several key concepts in this book that will be discussed in this paper include repressive hypothesis, sexuality, power, and discourse. This paper will seek to show the ways in which sexuality is a discursive object, and how sexuality was linked to power throughout history.