The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction

erotic-as-power

• Sexuality must not be thought of as a natural given which power tries to hold in check — it is the name that can be given to a historical construct.

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• If sex is repressed and condemned to silence, then speaking about it has the appearance of a deliberate transgression — this is the speaker's benefit.

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religion-and-sex

• The confession unfolds within a power relationship: the authority requires it, appreciates it, and intervenes to judge, punish, forgive, and reconcile.

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• Since the Middle Ages, Western societies have established the confession as one of the main rituals relied on for the production of truth.

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obedience-and-authority

• From state to family, from prince to father, power over sex operates through the simple and endlessly reproduced mechanisms of law, taboo, and censorship.

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• Where there is power, there is resistance — yet resistance is never in a position of exteriority; one is always inside power, no absolute outside exists.

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