The Thinking of Human Beings on Matters Pertaining to Sexuality - Essay Example

ESSAY: SEXUALITY ESSAY: SEXUALITY Introduction The thinking of human beings on matters pertaining to sexuality is greatly influenced by the "repressive hypothesis," that states the history of sexuality has been that of repression (Foucault 1990). Based on this, sex for reasons other than reproduction is a taboo, and the only way in which we can redeem ourselves from the repression of sexuality is to be open about it. Foucault does not approve the statement that sex has been silenced and repressed. According to Foucault (1990), the dialogue about sex has increased and proliferated through the many centuries from the eighteenth century. The priests in the churches expected the confession of the people on matters pertaining to sexual behavior and during that period, sexuality formed the main topic on which statistical analysis was done. Due to increased nature of the talk about sexuality, the emphasis on sexuality moved from that which occurred between couples who were married to cases of sexual parody (Afary, Anderson & Foucault 2005). The cases of sexual parody included child sexuality, lesbianism, and homosexuality. The desire of an individual was to give an explanation as to the characters or the behaviors of an individual. According to Goldhill (1995), most cultures treat sex as a tool for obtaining knowledge while others treat it as a mechanism for getting pleasure popularly known as the “ars erotica”. Most of the cultures are distinct in the manner in which they treat sex as a tool used in scientific investigations. The scientific parody in relation to our confessions shapes our imitation of sex. Based on this, the individuals involved in the procedure were to admit after which the confession was arrayed into a quasi-scientific method. Foucault (1990) on the other hand questions as to how sex is seen as the significant material through which individuals can explain something about themselves. Based on the question raised by Foucault, the answer lies in the relationship that exists between sex and knowledge not forgetting the power. Foucault (1990) does not agree with the idea of "juridico- discursive" that hold power is something that can restrict an individual and as such takes the form of laws. According to him, power is productive just as the manner in which it is repressive. Power is also described as omnipresent and multifaceted, meaning it is present in every part of the world and acts in all directions. Based on the statements, sexuality is viewed as something above power since it is not able to repress sexuality. Sexuality relates with power since it is the outlet of power. Foucault (1988) then states the primary focus points that include the sexuality of children, married couples, sexually "perverse," and the women. Sexual placement through the four models allows power to binge into the kinfolk throughout the whole society. Such a kind of arrangement took place with the intensification of the bourgeoisie, which viewed sexual eccentricity as something that can be passed from the parents to the offspring. The placement also proved perilous to the existence of their class. The controls they placed on sex were to ensure their health was safe, and their lifetime increased. The "right of death" of an age of despotism is taken over by the "power over life." Power in this circumstance is exercised in order to foster and take care of life. Very tight controls have been placed on issues related to the discipline of the body and regulation of the population. The deployment of sexuality and sex influences the power of life as we have placed rules in the best interest of health sexuality. Most of us take sexuality as the tool that defines us and makes us who we do not realize that it is just a social construct that makes us be easily manipulated. In the twentieth century, contemporary feminism and post-structuralism emerged as the influential cultural and political movements (Talattof 2011). The alliance between the two is precisely evaluated by the works of Foucault. According to Foucault (1990), power functions in a passageway fashion throughout the body and as such, it is best captured by the local and the concrete effects in the daily practices that lead to production of power relations. The most fruitful insight into the operations of power, as noted by Foucault, is its tasks at the micro-political level in which it identifies the body of an individual as the straight locus of controlling an individual socially. He insists on the historical specifications of the physique of an individual. The feminist theory highlights one of the problems of conceiving the body without the reduction of its materiality. Based on the fundamental level of discussion, the woman body has formed an analysis on the biological sex’s differences. As a mechanism to appeal to the historical, biological characteristics, the concept that the body of a woman is inferior compared to that of the woman is legitimized and naturalized. Cahill (1996) said that the body of a woman is perceived inferior due to the ideals and the norms based on the physical capability of the man. The biological functions are also viewed as the social characteristics. Foucault (1988) claims that the relationship that exists between power and sexuality does not give an accurate representation as sexuality is taken as an unruly natural force that naturally constraints. The sensation on sexuality should, therefore, be viewed as constructed through the exercise of power relations. The first part “Other Victorians" as stated by Foucault involved the discussion of the repressive hypothesis. Based on the study we are told that talking about sex was the speakers benefit. The idea of repression of sex in this circumstance is due to the social economic and the political mechanism that strives at revealing the truth. The aim of this is to be able to show some of the strategies that support the idea of parody and supporting the idea that we have negated sex. The repressive hypothesis comprises of two parts that include the incitement to parody and the perverse implantation (Huffer 2010). Based on the incitement of the parody, the modern generation went silence on matters pertaining to sex. The language used in the confessions was made discrete and fine although the correlations of sex were looked at in details. An individual had to open up and state everything. The desire for sex appeared as the primary evil since it led an individual to the sexual acts. In this circumstance, the meeting line of the body and the soul of an individual had to be traced. The transformation of the desire into parody was the requirement of all Christians including the monks (Atkinson 2005). The vocabulary of man was censored to be able to produce any discourse. The incitements of a discourse were able to give effects such as intensification, displacement, and modification of the desire of a person. The primary mechanism of spiraling sex into parody got support from the power system of classifications and analysis. Talking about children and sex got consent as it was allowed. Taking into sex was placed into a new form of discourses of saying things based on the different ways by individuals who had different roles and goals (Skott-Myhre, Weima & Gibbs 2012). Based on the perverse implantation, the civil law and the Christian pastoral activities regulated marital relations and issues pertaining to sex. The world perversion emerged between the borderline of medicine and law. This involved individuals who were marked by the moral offense and crime. The tactics placed in order to control the sexuality of a child not only failed but had an effect on the propagation of the extent to which penetration and regulation of the lives of children occur. According to Boellstorff (2008), the sex of children affirmed multiplication and the effect of power analysis. The perversions constituted of particular individuals, and the new specification of people came up. Based on this observation, the homosexual was categorized as an individual. The classifications of this nature first passed through the regulations in medicine and then law. The attraction of sexuality demands observation and the ability to exchange the discourse that includes questions and answers. The attraction of sexuality suggests pleasure while exercising power. The power that was applied to the body of an individual did not take any form of law or taboo but focused on multiplied sexualities (Foucault & Hurley 1990). The power never restricted and instead extended sexuality in the body of the people. The power also never avoided but attracted the sexuality when it was reinforced by pleasure. Elden & Crampton (2007) also noted that sexual saturation also occurred due to the power since it never had any barrier. Scientia sexualis, which is the science of sex, focus on serving order rather than finding the truth (Schwartz & Rutter 1998). Scientia sexualis comes up as a dictator of hygiene and moral cleanliness. The concept of “ars erotica” introduced by Foucault has only been seen in the Eastern and the ancient societies. Scientia sexualis aids in politics and has been used continuously for political purposes as it is used to refer to public hygiene (Mcwhorter 1999). The mechanism for production of truth in this circumstance was sex, as pleasure was found to contribute to an individual saying the truth. Confessional practices form the best arrangements in which an individual tells the truth (Oleary 2006). The methods of reporting the truth pervade western civilization. The driving force of an individual to confess is found, within them and is difficult to realize its effects. The confessional practice an individual engages in reducing the truth to a secret. Confession has lost the ritual and exclusive location. Boellstorff (2008) stated that the current society has technology that can produce a parody of sex. When individuals demand sex, they tend to speak the truth, and the truth tells us more about them. Based on the nature of the Catholic confession a person who confesses has the feeling of freedom. The deployment of sexuality strives to find the reason as to why most of the individuals from the west strive to find the truth about sex. Foucault (1988) in chapter one of the topic states that people need to come up with analytics that they can use to understand matters relating to sex. He says that power regulates sex as it gives the rules to follow. Power in order to control sex needs obedience through submission, domination, and subjugation. The "The Right of Death and Power over Life," states that the motivations for the power over life and death have changed. During the feudal times, the right to life was less or more than the right to end and as such the autonomous powers had the ability to tell the time in which an individual died (Enevold & Maccallum-Stewart 2015). This however has changed since the independent states nowadays are concerned with the will of the people to live. Power in this case fosters on the life of an individual, for instance, the state today can decide to execute an individual in order to protect the society, not as a weapon for getting revenge. According to Elden & Crampton (2007), the emphasis on life is known as bio-power, and it has two forms. The first form is pinpointed on the body as a contraption. The second form focuses on the species on the body. Bio power is the origin of capitalism as the states were indulged in normalizing and regulating life. Foucault (1990) made a mistake in the manner in which he presented Christianity in relation to sexuality. While Christianity completely radicalized the idea of sexuality, Foucault makes it appear as if there is continuity between Christianity and paganism. The illuminating example was the image of the same sex marriage. Homosexuals were viewed as inverts in the 19th century (Halperin 2002). Invert simply means the change of sexual life of an individual. Foucault states that it is wrong to condemn homosexuality as a love of the boys, but it is also difficult to appreciate it as a positive behavior. Christianity focuses on the individualistic model of the ethical and the moral world. According to Foucault (1988), Christianity gives the meaning of sex rather than focusing on what sex produces means. Because of the manner in which Christianity views things, it is a hegemonic and regulating force. References AFARY, J., ANDERSON, K., & FOUCAULT, M. (2005).Foucault and the Iranian Revolution gender and the seductions of Islamism. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.. ATKINSON, D. (2005). Cultural geography: a critical dictionary of key concepts. London [u.a.], Tauris. BOELLSTORFF, T. (2008). Coming of age in Second Life an anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton, Princeton University Press. CAHILL, L. S. (1996). Sex, gender, and Christian ethics. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press. ENEVOLD, J., & MACCALLUM-STEWART, E. 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