Subject  Sociology

Topic     When sex becomes abstract – theory and power

Type      Essay

Level     High School

Style      APA

Sources                0

Language             English(U.S.)

Description

For this order is write for two parts:

Part 1: There are some important terms in History of Sexuality (vol. 1) that you should be familiar with — understanding these terms will help you understand the main points of the book.

 

For this assignment — do your best to fill in a short definition (or your best guess of what you think Foucault means) of the following terms:

 

1) “We other Victorians”

 

2) “repressive hypothesis”

 

3) discourse and discursive power

 

4) “scientia sexualis” (vs. “ars erotica”) — and related to this the term “bio-power”

 

5) the Catholic confessional and “truth” in the Reformation as agents of discourse

 

(Note: there is no word count minimum for this assignment but only serious responses will be given credit.)

 

 

Part 2: We say we live in a world where we don’t talk about sex — but Foucault disagrees — we do talk about sex a lot and that has implications for how we see ourselves and our sexuality….

 

Please read the following questions and answer them as best you can.

 

1) Is sex/sexuality repressed, according to Foucault? Explain why or why not.

 

2) Is sexuality a social construction? What evidence is there either way?

 

3) What role does science and discourse play in sexuality?

 

4) How does discourse influence sexuality on an individual level and a societal level.

 

(Note: 200 word minimum word count)

 

Class information posts:

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality: An introduction

 

Read:

 

1) Part One We “other” Victorians and Chapter 1 — (just) the Incitement to Discourse

 

2) Part Three — Scientia Sexualis (all)

 

3) Part Five — Right of Death and Power over Life (all)

Spacing Double

Pages    1