Michel Foucault Annotation: “The Perverse Implantation”

Written By: Amayah Meas

Foucault describes sexuality as an object of analysis that can be optimized in power. He refuted the Repressive Hypothesis, which argues that the relationship between power and sex has been one of repression, that sex is something to be shamed, ignored, and behind the scenes. Discourse about sex became wrapped up in power, specifically with an interest in controlling the way it was talked about. Like all forms of power, it became desirable, hence spreading more discourse about sex, the opposite of what the Repressive Hypothesis claimed. While the objective principle behind discourse about sex was similar between the Hypothesis and Foucault’s arguments, the way in which it was explained and carried out were contradictory. Discourse was inherently an imbalanced power dynamic. Those leading were able to control it and sex became measurable through statistics and medicine. While discourse primarily focused on regulations for marriage, it soon evolved to include many different types of perversions, those including homosexuality, bestiality, incest, any offenses against the regularity of a natural function; sexuality and gender became part of discretion in law. These identified perversions required a whole new set of legislation and oversight. Stricter supervision meant more discourse, the opposite of repression since everyone was talking about it. The desire to label and distinguish them resulted in an exertion of power to condemn and control that was “quite different from simple prohibition” (Foucault, 41). This power of locking people up by law was one of productivity because it produced new forms of criminality, knowledge, and discourse about sex, in turn becoming desirable as a point of authority to hold. There was also a desire to undermine that power, to create subversions that intensify the need for better knowledge and regulation about the perversions. While these discussions still exist in Western culture, they may not be as prevalent as certain discourses about sex today, such as those relating to acceptance and the origins of different sexualities. Discourse about sex is a reproductive cycle, a “perpetual spiral of power and pleasure” (Foucault, 45), though the ways in which it is demonstrated will evolve.

References

Foucault, Michel. “The Perverse Implantation.” The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1, Vintage Books, 1988.