Sexuality in a discourse - how we (not) talk about sex Flashcards
(17 cards)
Foucault: What is the repressive hypothesis that Foucault critiques?
The idea that in the Victorian era, sex was repressed and seemed “non-existent”. It was not talked about and confined only to reproduction - a taboo subject
According to Foucault, why is the repressive hypothesis wrong?
Because sex was never truly silenced —institutions encouraged people to talk about it in regulated ways - privately and extensively, with discretion and certain rules (i.e., example of Catholic confession -> scope of confession of the flesh increased).
Even not talking about sex is in a way also talking about sex -> even if something is not explicitly said, it is still discourse. For example, is good sex is heterosexual between husband and wife, all other kinds of sex are bad.
Rather than repression, there was a proliferation of discourse about sex, shaped by power to produce knowledge, norms, and control.
Foucault: Why are we still telling the repressive hypothesis?
Because speaking about sex under the guise of repression feels like rebellion. It gives the speaker a sense of transgression and moral superiority—”liberating” the truth from silence
Additionally simplifies policies, history etc., situating ourselves at the liberation side to feel good
Foucault: What is the relationship between power, discourses, and knowledge?
Power operates through discourse, not just by silencing. Institutions create “truths” and knowledge about sex by defining what could be said, who could say it, and how. Even silence is part of discourse and power -> for example Chatcot, who almost brought a woman to orgasm but masked it right at the end to hide the “secret of sex”
Foucault: What is biopolitics?
The governance/politics of human life and bodies—e.g., laws and policies about reproduction, sexuality, health, marriage, and population control. It reflects how the state exercises power over people through sex.
At beginning of 18th century, a “population” became a problem to be regulated, and sex had to be managed and regulated for the greater good, as the future and fortune of the state is tied to the population having sex -> analyzing birth rates, age of marriage, legitimate births etc.
Kelly: Foucault does not believe in the distinctions between will to knowledge and will to non-knowledge. How did psychiatrists produce sexuality through silence?
A “will to knowledge” seeks to produce and accumulate truths, while a “will to nonknowledge” avoids confronting certain truths—yet both are part of the same discourse.
Charcot incited sexual displays from a female patient, but stopped when the woman became too aroused. The restraint at the limit shows that they were producing the secret of sex, producing truth and then masking it at the last minute, creating a zone of silence
This silence is still part of the construction of discourse and truth -> in the 19th century, truth of sex included the idea that sex needed to be concealed
Kelly: What are, according to Foucault, the “two great procedures for producing the truth of sex” in history?
Ars erotica: in Asian traditions views sex as a learned art of pleasure - sex is a question of pleasure-intensifying
Scientia sexualis: In the West, we have produced and consumed over-knowledge about sex; seeking the secret of sex via confession and treatment
Kelly: How does confession shape the modern self, according to Foucault?
Confession is everywhere, even without the threat of torture which dominated in old days. We think of confession as natural, as the repressive hypothesis indicates -> natural confession of sex is now spilling freely out of us
Confession produces individuals as subjects—both as agents and as objects of discourse. By confessing, we create our identities in relation to others and become more knowable, thus more governable.
Kelly: What does it mean that “sexuality is produced in reality” in Foucault’s framework?
Sexuality is not a natural essence but the result of discursive practices like confession, psychiatry, and law. These produce what we recognize as “sexuality” by organizing knowledge and power around sex.
Rubin: Why is sex politicial, and when has it historically been the most politicized?
Because it’s regulated by systems of power that reward some sexual behaviors and punish others. Sexuality becomes a site of control, moral panic, and social organization—shaping laws, institutions, and norms.
1880s UK and US, where much of current (1980s) sex laws date back to morality crusades against homosexuals and sex workers
1950s US: Image of the “homosexual menace” and other aspects of the “sex offender”, blurring the distinction between violent sexual assault and consensual acts of sodomy
1980s: New wave of violence and state persecution against a sexual minority and sex-work industry
Rubin: What are the six barriers to a radical theory of sex? Briefly explain each
- Sexual essentialism = the idea that sex is natural, unchanging, asocial, and transhistorical. She uses Foucault to highlight that traditional understanding of sexuality is a historically specific social practice + homosexuality as a modern invention
- Sex negativity = Western cultures sees sex as dangerous and destructive, therefore all erotic behavior is bad unless for marriage, reproduction, or love (exemptions created by society)
- The fallacy of misplaced scale = Sexual acts are given excess significance and therefore excess punishment compared to violent crimes, for example execution/20 year sentences for homosexual acts
- The hierarchical valuation of sex acts = sexuality can be divided in a hierarchy of good/normal/natural (heterosexual, maritial, monogamous, reproductive, non-commercial) and bad/abnormal/unnatural
- The domino theory of sexual peril = the fear that if anything is allowed to cross the line between good/bad erotica, the barrier against scary sex will crumble and something unspeakable will cross the line
- The lack of a concept of benign sexual variation
Rubin: If sex(uality) is not natural, unchanging etc., what is it then?
Constituted in society and history, not purely biological
Rubin: What is erotic speciation?
The emergence of new kinds of erotic individuals and their aggregation into rudimentary communities, for example homosexuality as a consequence of urbanization
Rubin: What is Rubin’s concept of the erotic hierarchy?
A cultural ranking of sex acts, with marital, monogamous, heterosexual sex at the top. Lower down are gay sex, kink, sex work, and other “deviant” practices—often pathologized and criminalized.
Rubin: Political struggle over sex is often between
Producers of sexual ideology (churches, families, psychiatrists, media) and vulnerable groups (queer people, sex-workers)
Rubin: Why does Rubin criticize feminist thought?
- Because it often conflates gender and sexuality - Not all gender discrimination is connected to sexuality, i.e., family, religion, education etc.
- Because feminism often moralizes about sex, for example feminists against pornography, and Ribun wants us to stop moralizing sexuality and pleasure
How does Rubin’s work relate to Foucault’s ideas about sexuality?
Both argue sexuality is constructed through discourse and power. Foucault is more descriptive; Rubin is more political and normative, challenging sex essentialism and defending erotic diversity using Foucauldian ideas.
