46 pages • 1 hour read
Michel FoucaultThe History of Sexuality: Volume 1
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1976A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3 Summary: “Scientia Sexualis”
Foucault now builds his argument on the bedrock that he has established in the previous chapters: As an ironic result of the development of sexual restriction, sexual discourse increased and ensured a sexual explosion (53). The philosopher criticizes the science and medical fields for their contributions to this sexual discourse. By speaking about sex from a clinical perspective, scientists and doctors were able to categorize sexualities as either normal or perverse. Although scientists emphasized their rationality, the work done on sex in the 19th century reflected cultural morality. The medical field secured its position as masters of the body, providing advice on hygiene and health while separating out those who did not align with societal norms. The medical field’s narrow understanding of “healthy” sex and sexuality was incongruent with the diversity of sex in animal and plant life. Foucault suggests that this clinical restriction of sex formed the basis for “racisms of the state,” referring to the genocidal wars of the 20th century (54).
During the 19th century, scientific discourse on sex was centered on the biology of reproduction and the treatment of sex. These were considered separate fields of study. Foucault argues that the findings of the 19th century were informed by societal attitudes and misgivings about sex. Many tactics were used to uphold sexual norms. Broadly, the science of sex worked either to prohibit non-normative sexualities or to erase them by pretending they didn’t exist. Thus it became increasingly important for individuals to speak truthfully about sex, even if that truth would later be concealed.
Foucault outlines two opposing ways in which societies have historically understood “the truth of sex” (57). First, some societies emphasize pleasure and explore sexual truth through erotic art. In these societies, sex is not viewed as something having utilitarian value, nor is it connected to ideas like purity or taboo. In contrast to expectation, this approach requires elements of mystery and discretion. The ownership of one’s individual secrets adds to the pleasure of the erotic act. The second procedure, which Foucault suggests is the approach of Western society, is that of Scientia sexualis. In societies that utilize this procedure, sex is connected to knowledge and power. The religious confession is a powerful for tool for eliciting total truth about sex. Its influence can be seen in a contemporary societal propensity for confessional. Art, justice, education, relationships, and all other areas of Western society have embraced confession.
Confession has become such a pervasive element in Western culture that many individuals see it as human nature to want to extract and divulge the truth. The divulging of secrets has come to be seen as an act of liberation rather than a capitulation to power. Foucault, however, argues that whatever has the effect of requiring the individual to conform and be controlled is not liberation. The confession solidifies the privileging of heterosexual relationships and the transformation of sex into language, and the ritual of confession creates a dynamic of power and submission. Although it has evolved from a religious ritual to many other societal systems—such as the relationship between judge and plaintiff, psychiatrist and patient, or teacher and student—the effect of the confession is the same. Once the truth is delivered, the individual no longer controls the outcome.
Part 3 Analysis
In an earlier book, Madness and Civilization (1961), Foucault explores the treatment of people with mental illness throughout history. He critiques the medical field for creating a set of societal norms to which all humans were held. Foucault values the stories and experiences of outliers, and he believes that broader systems—such as health and medicine—fail to appreciate the contributions of the unique individuals and groups that do not submit to the status quo. This criticism of the medical field and its treatment of mental illness is further expressed in The History of Sexuality. Foucault shows how the medical field’s preoccupation with sexuality contributed to sexual repression and the exertion of power over the body, creating a distinction between “healthy” and “disordered” sexual practices.
The Effects of Societal Norms in the field of medicine included a complicated series of power relationships. The medicalization of sexualities meant that they could be classified. Sexual preferences were categorized as either healthy or unhealthy. Any sexual tendency considered unhealthy was open to treatment. The treatment of sexual perversions led to a need to create sub-categories for the various types, thus contributing to the explosion of discourse around sexuality that came about as a result of attempts at restriction. Foucault argues that this is an example of the failure of the repressive hypothesis to account for the full breadth of Western sexual history. Rather than limiting discourse, power increases it. The medicalization of sex created space for vigorous and detailed discussion.
The medicalization of sex provided an opportunity for strengthening the relationship between knowledge and power, explored in the theme Sex and Power. Doctors’ offices became one more place for people to reveal their innermost thoughts about sex and desire, thereby increasing knowledge about sex. The History of Sexuality is not Foucault’s only work that explores how the emphasis on confession altered the cultural landscape. In Discipline and Punish (1975), the philosopher explores how crime came to be understood as a transgression of thought as much as of action. The judicial system saw an increase in rhetoric about motive and state of mind—what the criminal was thinking and feeling just before the crime. Concepts like “pre-meditation” changed the degree of the offense. Instead of delivering justice based on what a person had done, the law developed a system for combining action and thought. It was not enough to avoid committing a crime; one’s mind must be pure of criminal thoughts as well. In The History of Sexuality, the Catholic tool of confession is viewed as a tool of power-knowledge. The scope of power increases as institutions gather knowledge not only about individuals’ sexual activities but about their thoughts and desires.
Power is often conceived acting to prohibit certain behaviors. Foucault calls this “The Myth of Repression.” Conventional histories assume that power acts through oppression and censorship. Historical accounts of power-hungry leaders paint pictures of restricted access to information and the intentional failure to meet basic needs. Power is about saying no and having the authority to forbid and refuse. Foucault’s conception of power is one that is strategic and omnipresent. Although sovereigns hold tremendous authority, power can be found in any relationship at any level of society. Importantly, Foucault argues that power cannot destroy—it can only create. Even when it seeks to eradicate certain thoughts or behaviors, the effect is, paradoxically, to increase them, leading to the creation of new language and new forms for what is ostensibly forbidden. This proliferation of the very things power seeks to eliminate only increases the scope of power: There is more to confess, more to categorize, and the system of power-knowledge grows. Rather than living off the crumbs of repression, power survives through multiplicity.
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By Michel Foucault
