Mony-Foucault Pre-Class

“The Society that emerged …did not put into operation entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning it. Not only did it speak of sex and compel everyone to do so; it also set out to formulate the uniform truth of sex. As if it suspected sex of harboring a fundamental secret. As if it needed the production of the truth…as if it were essential that it be put in an ordered system of truth.”

Sexuality in modern society is as ubiquitous as terrorism. Actually, I am sure that homeland security has already drawn up a correlation between the two, since sex is so “evil and deviant” it has to be related to terrorism. I agree with Foucault, discourse on sexuality was only constructed as a means of social control. Sexuality is a part of our essence, for sexuality is the alpha and omega of life. Without control over sexuality, the individuals with the power could soon find themselves out numbered. And God forbid that the “sexually liberated” come into power, for then morals would cease to exist.

At the time this article was written, the height of “free-love” and “sexual liberation” were coming to their end. Presently, we have new terms that can be applied to Foucault’s “confession” we now have: coming out of the closet, sex addicts support groups, self proclaimed chastity and re-virginity, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychology, and all those other mental health fields that control our sexuality. We have become a society so fixated on trying to control sexuality that we have lost sight of the natural beauty associated with it. Sexuality is not repressed and never has been. It has just been regulated, and I say it is time to have a sexual “coming out party” for all.