History of Sexuality

from ENGLC1010_237 (UW Gender & Sexuality) x_The_History_of_Sexuality

• Works by Foucault

  • Interest in asylum, hospital, prison in society

• They say: We have been liberated from the Victorian mindset that made it difficult to talk about sex.

• But Foucault says: That’s not true, even talking about it is constrained?

• “Discourse” is like how things are talked about and treated?

  • In the 19th century, sex was talked about in this way, it seems.

• 3 doubts on p10

    - Is censorship the only way power works?
  

• Confession

  • Using the example of Christianity on p21, 22 secret life

• Interested in the relationship of power and oppression

  • They are not synonymous, but rather connected by cause and effect

https://kotento.com/2019/01/03/post-2230/

• It is summarized in an easy-to-understand manner (not sure if it’s correct)

• So, what are the characteristics of this new power that can be seen in the apparatus of sexuality?

• This power does not exist as something that can be held or released like legal power, but functions as a network of unstable and irregular power relations that arise from countless localized points (the relationships that exist here and now for each individual) (power is inherent in not only law but also all social phenomena).

• This power is not exercised from the top to the bottom like a pillar, but is established by the individual and diverse multitude of power relations from below.

• In short, power comes from below.

• The concept of state can be seen as the institutional integration of these various power relations.

• Living power

• 4-2 Methods

  • Power is not something that is exercised top-down
  • It is based on the premise that there are countless fluid power relations, and the temporary/global power that emerges as a result of their interaction is seen as power, something that is only temporarily visible
  • So, if we think about power, we should look at the power relations from below (economic processes, knowledge relations, sexual relations)
  • Look at the loop of power -> discourse on sex -> micro power relations -> power, something like that?

And “Power,” insofar as it is permanent, repetitious, inert, and self-reproducing, is simply the overall effect that emerges from all these mobilities, the concatenation that rests on each of them and seeks in turn to arrest their move­ ment.