Michel Foucault - Research Paper Example

What did his work do? It linked philosophy with history by “encompassing such diverse topics as changing attitudes to insanity in post-Renaissance European society, the development of the prison system within the same society, and the codes of governing sexual practice in class times” (“Foucault”). Foucault deems it to be vital to outline the methods involved in the utilization of social control in society. Some of his major works include Madness and Civilization, The Order of Things and History of Sexuality (“Foucault”).

Foucault’s multi-volume work entitled History of Sexuality provides an excellent excerpt that portrays Foucault’s vision and ideas. Part One: We “Other Victorians” is an excellent example of Foucault explaining how self-identity imposed by the dominant social culture affects the individual. Foucault’s exact words are, “…the imperial prude is emblazoned on our restrained, mute, and hypocritical sexuality” (Foucault 3). In private, sexuality is an open and cherished part of life.

However, in society, it is frowned upon, even considered to be a sin if it is not contained within the boundaries of religion aka; after marriage. Sexual phrases and words have become taboo. Foucault says it used to be that, “sexual practices had little need of secrecy; words were said without undue reticence, and things were done without too much concealment; one had a tolerant familiarity with the illicit” (Foucault 3). In other words, perhaps sexuality was not a comfortable subject for every one, but when it was brought up in conversation, it was not treated with intense disdain.

People tolerated the topic because it is one that is shared by the majority. But according to Foucault, that now has changed. The mention of sexuality in a social setting is socially prohibited. He says it best when he says, “The conjugal family took custody of it and absorbed it into the serious function of reproduction” (Foucault 3). Not only had the term sexuality become buried into the background, it had taken on a new identity. Foucault challenged the new system. Nothing had physically changed about sexuality including how people identified or used it in the privacy of their own homes.

Its social meaning had altered to a state of something done for a ‘higher’ purpose only. There is suddenly no reason to perform the act of intimacy without the intention of making a baby. When sex was brought up in the Victorian period, it was immediately silenced (Foucault 3). Why did this happen? Foucault believed it to stem from the birth of purity. People in the Victorian Age prized the idea of prudency. But prudency, or purity, is considered to be unrelated, and even opposite, of sexuality according to the Puritans of the Victorian period.

Sexuality, or sex, is deemed dirty and inappropriate. Especially, in context of desire vs. necessity. What is desire exactly in terms of sexuality? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, desire is be defined as “conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment; sexual urge or appetite.” But what is so wrong about the enjoyment of sex? A prude, who is considered better than others in Victorian society, would not consider sex enjoyable in social conversation.

It is a mere act taken between two married people for the sole purpose of producing children. Purity is defined as “the quality or state of being pure” (“Purity”). What is most interesting about the word purity is that