Herculine Barbin

Michelle Kim September 28, 2012 HIST 312 Response Paper on Foucault Upon reading Herculine Barbin, it helped me understand the difficulties in which Herculine had, living as a hermaphrodite living in his century, as it is still very difficult to lead such a life now. However, many parts of the reading were ambiguous because she never exactly mentions the condition of her body or what kind of sickness she is exactly suffering from. Although she always mentions the fact that she is suffering

define one’s identity by categorizing individuals into one of two sexess: male or female, based on a socially agreed upon biological criteria whether it be one’s genetic make-up before birth and/or genital organs at birth. In his introduction of Herculine Barbin, Foucault questions the necessity of a “true sex,” a concept, if we may, that has been embedded into a systematic structure of acceptance of modern Western societies that limits, what Foucault calls, free choice. Through his examination of Alexina’s

suggest that the will for sexual repression breeds obsession. Beginning with the yearning for the touch of her Mother Superiors and ending in the affair with Sara, Barbin did little to curb her sexual desires, or as she referred to them, "...the terrible sickness of the unknown."6 Now paying attention to the latter question raised, Barbin and Sara are able to pervade discovery due to the nineteenth century's general acceptance of female eroticism within platonic friendships; "society did not find erotic

Public morality and individual health rights encompasses issues such as HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, and vaccinations. While learning about sexual and reproductive health, people learn about the sexual rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (hereafter known as LGBT) community. Also the rights of women and their access to birth control and abortions are commonly discussed while learning about reproductive health. However, a topic that is not brought up is the rights of