RELG 271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Michel Foucault, Human Sexuality, Sex Education
16 Aug 2016
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RELG 271
Lecture 5 — Jan 27
Recap — Freud’s idea of sexuality: Most complex idea about sexual thought
-Sexuality is essential to human happiness (similar to getting nutritious food, water, sleep etc.)
-Idea of repression: every human being grows up in a society—complex psychosocial
process—where we are influenced by authority figures and we are taught to hold back
certain impulses (thoughts and feelings)
-Repression is so successful, we don’t even realize we are doing it
-Modern world is making people sick because the repression is too severe
-This repression is worst for women — Freud argued that women are oppressed more so
than men in society
-Dealt with middle class house wives who knew nothing about their body (no education on
sexuality) leading to many desires but confusion about such desires
-Thought their only purpose was to make children
Freud’s Understanding of Morality
-All morality begins with primitive taboos, based on irrational fears and power hierarchy—tribal
societies were uncomfortable for menstruation as they were bleeding from their vagina
-All morality is psychological
-Taboos and fears are based on hierarchy — virginity is related to a virtuous woman
-Freud: how does virginity = virtue?
-Throughout history, men taught women that to be successful in life would be to be pure
for the men. Men controlled women and their sexuality
-Taboos lead to religious morality, organized as a complex system of beliefs, principles and
prohibitions
-Modern sexual morality reflects traditional fears and prejudices, rather than biological and
social realities of human sexuality
-Doctors don’t realize that they are being psychologically shaped by tradition
-Morality has nothing to do with biological or socially realistic humanity
Freud’s Conclusions
-Morality has more to do with human psychology (pleasure/ pain, fear of death/ unknown) than
with right and wrong
-Tend to be more selfish of this — what ever is beneficial to one led to a system of justice to
benefit the man
-We believe that we have a right to our body—no one has the right over your body accept
yourself
-This freedom of choice is drawn when someone wants to die (for example) — this is a
psychological reason as death scares us as people
-Humans are very primal in their reaction to death, they greatly fear it—it is not an ethical
principle to force someone to live, but it is such a sensitive issue people are accustomed to
a certain set of norms
-Believes that morality should be based on an understanding — one must understand that as
long as one isn’t harming society they are permitted to do so, and are morally permitted to do
what they please
-Waging a moral war against sexual desire is like waging a war against hunger and thirst
Are we still repressed?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
-50 Shades of Grey — a movie about kinky sex
-People thought this was too liberal of a society, although the movie proves that there are
things wrong with humanity
Foucault’s Theory of Modern Sexuality
Sex and Truth
“When a subject is highly controversial—and any question about sex is that—one cannot hope
to tell the truth” Virginia Woolf (1929)
-As long as you are a member of society, you will always be a liar (wearing a mask from the
world)
“It is only because of sexuality that we think about the truth at all” Adam Phillips (1996)
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) — The history of sexuality is actually the history of sexual
discourses
-Christian idea: you must love, but once you want someone sexually you have succumb to lust
The Repressive Hypothesis
1. The myth of Victorian sexuality
-The Victorians were very repressed, yet very happy—we assume that the further back
towards the Victorian era resulted in a more sexually repressed society. This is a
misconception
-Foucault: believes this is wrong. Question what happened to the Victorians, and relates
modern society to the Victorian era
-To free yourself from sexual transgression = happiness
2. “Repressed” sexuality = cause of neuroses
3. Freedom as expression or transgression (overcoming social repression)
4. Naive understanding of sexual emancipation
Foucault’s Questions: trying to prove that Victorians were not repressed
-What if we have never been repressed?
-What if power has nothing to do with repression?
-What if transgression has nothing to do with liberation?
Sexual Discourse: “our understanding of what is sexual, and what different ways of being sexual
mean, is always dependent on the kind of discourse about sex that circulates in a given time
and place” Deborah Cameron and Don Kulick
-Culture is enscribed within the body — every bodily decision reflects what society wants you
do do
-Conforming to what society respects — even during rebellion, still conforming to what society
allows in a rebellion
Discourse:
-Formalized or prescribed way of speaking or writing about something
-A set of terms and concepts that conforms to a particular logic (religious, political, moral,
medical, legal, economic etc.)
-Every statement said by humans (that is considered important) has to do with discourse —
unconscious idea
-Defines what can or cannot be said, thought or experienced
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Recap freud"s idea of sexuality: most complex idea about sexual thought. Sexuality is essential to human happiness (similar to getting nutritious food, water, sleep etc. ) Idea of repression: every human being grows up in a society complex psychosocial process where we are in uenced by authority gures and we are taught to hold back certain impulses (thoughts and feelings) Repression is so successful, we don"t even realize we are doing it. Modern world is making people sick because the repression is too severe. This repression is worst for women freud argued that women are oppressed more so than men in society. Dealt with middle class house wives who knew nothing about their body (no education on sexuality) leading to many desires but confusion about such desires. Thought their only purpose was to make children. All morality begins with primitive taboos, based on irrational fears and power hierarchy tribal societies were uncomfortable for menstruation as they were bleeding from their vagina.
