Foucault is stressing the inclusion of sex as a discourse that needs to be addressed more frequently. He first addresses the church and its place with the inclusion of sex. Then the sexualities of children and adolescents, the role of sex in school and the rules of marriage, in the home and all around you in every part of your day. It seems as though Foucault is really stressing its importance but why?
It seems that Foucault is trying to stress that sex is everyone and the need to extract sex from everyday life should be stopped. Foucault states, “sex was taken charge of, tracked down as it were, by a discourse that aimed to allow it no obscurity, no respite” (1650). Perhaps sex as a discourse was aiming to destroy its presence? Foucault seems to address the “Christian pastoral” as seeking to detach sex from religion?? He often addresses the idea of having to avoid saying certain things or making certain references that lead to thoughts about sex, as if its something disgraceful. I feel that to a certain extent when it comes to each of the things he addresses, church, children, school, marriage… that if it is spoken of with respect to explicit detail its a normal thing that shouldn’t have to be constantly avoided. Foucault addresses this idea, “one had to speak of it as of a thing to be not simply condemned or tolerated but managed, inserted into systems of utility, regulated for the greater good of all, made to function according to an optimum” (1652).
Foucault also touches on the idea of sex as a multiplicity. I’m not sure if I completely understood this but, it was addressed after the issue of population and men using their sex. At the heart of this problem with population and men as a multiplicity was sex. Things like birth rate, marriage, and the frequency of sexual relations were what contributed to sex being the heart of the problem. Things that can bring happiness to life for many or something that is a personal preference to someone is judged as a problem of population. Sex is a problem because it populates the world…I find this interesting and disturbing at the same time, but I guess everyone has an opinion.
What was also interesting with going back to the issues of sex in schools was “the question of sex was a constant preoccupation” (1654) and all the rules of the school were formed around avoiding any reference to sex or the discussion of sex. This was interesting to me because in today’s schools health class is something required of students and the middle school and secondary school levels and it is seen as important for students to have a basic knowledge of sex and important facts related to sex. Not only is it stressed in schools but it is something that parents are pushed to discuss with their child/children.
Many of the things Foucault addresses are interesting in the sense that the idea of living life without mention of sex or any type of reference to sex would really make things very restricted and different. It is something that is every where. Any type of action or comment/statement can be turned into sexual context and its odd to imagine a world without it. There are so many people in this world that would never be able to restrain from the topic of sex in their lives.
