Essay on History of Sexuality - 2302 Words

Married Love was an unprecedented book, which inadvertently redefined female sexuality. Often regarded as the precursor of sex-manuals, Married Love launched Stopes’ enormously successful career as a writer. Published in 1918, Married Love reviewed the intertwining relationship of marriage, sex and contraception, which in Stopes’ view were the fundamental components of a fulfilling and rewarding marriage. Like all discourse, Married Love is heavily embedded within a distinct historical and cultural context. Darwinian theory and the development of eugenics had a phenomenal impact on Stopes. Recognising the equal sexual desire of women would make Married Love greatly influential in the shaping of modern perceptions into female sexuality.†¦show more content†¦Known as the Two Sex theory, devised by historian Thomas Laqueur, female sexuality would be characterized purely by a woman’s reproductive potential, where the concept of an innate maternal instinct wo uld become the new prioritized ideal. The female orgasm was renounced by a new essence of masculine superiority. This notion can be asserted with the Phallocentric inclination of the late 18th century, examined by historian Tim Hitchcock, as period characterized by penetration and precedence of the phallus. This â€Å"both encouraged and made possible the denigration of female sexuality and perceived passivity.† Consequently this caused the de-emphasis of female sexual pleasure and desire. However, female sexual identity would reemerge with potency, attributed to social flux, the emerging field of sexology and disposition of the interwar years. Stopes actively sought to reprimand the misconstrued assumptions of female sexuality as she considered female desire â€Å"profound as hunger of food† . She elaborated on this in chapter IV, titled the Fundamental Pulse. Within this chapter Stopes discusses research regarding female acceptability towards sex during the different stages of hormonal and menstrual cycles. This would become what Stopes termed as the ‘Law of Periodicity of Recurrence ofShow MoreRelatedHistory of Sexuality3607 Words   |  15 Pagesof the 80s incited a discourse in which homosexuality was re-articulated, re-negotiated, and unmistakably re-repressed (Davis 3). Supreme Court judgment and actions taken by Congress with the Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy exemplify theories of sexuality and power expressed in the philosophies of Michel Foucault. Foucault was a French-born philosopher historian. He examined social institutions such as medicine, psychiatry, the prison system, and the human sciences in general. Specifically heRead MoreA History of Sexuality Essay1960 Words   |  8 Pages Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood. In his paper which is called Is There A History of Sexuality, Halperin drew a distinction between the topics of sexuality and of sex. He claimed that the two concepts are separate ideas. In Halperins view, sex is a natural function that has not changed in many years, if ever at all. He says that sex â€Å"is a natural fact, grounded in the functioning of the body, and asRead More Society and Sexuality in Waiting for the Barbarians and The History of Sexuality1163 Words   |  5 PagesSociety and Sexuality in Waiting for the Barbarians, and The History of Sexuality  Ã‚   Within our modern minds reside two very different ways in which we deal with the subject of sexuality. The conceptual framework of modern society, to some extent, has developed out of past notions about the body. We can see that springing from our historical roots, issues concerning sexuality have been dealt with through mutual feelings of desire and disgust. The relationship between these two opposed feelingsRead MoreThe History Of Sexuality By Michel Foucault1729 Words   |  7 PagesVictorians†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ chapter of the book entitled â€Å"The History of Sexuality† by Michel Foucault seeks to explain the traditional and modern issues regarding sexuality. Michel argues out that during the 17th century, sexuality was not a big deal, and various sexual acts were pursued more or less deliberately. Primarily, there was no taboo concerning sex and people of all age groups including children were well aware of sexual behaviours. Michel then points out that sexuality was now shifted to the homes where it wasRead MoreThe History Of Sexuality, By Michel Foucault1346 Words   |  6 PagesIn the History of Sexuality Vol. 1, Michel Foucault writes the body as a constructed and manipulated agent, the locus of sociopolitical discourse and power. To Foucault, the body cannot exist before the law (that which holds and ascribes its meaning). Similarly, sexuality cannot free itself from relations of power (Butler 1989:603). Indeed, the body is culturally contested; it is incapable of independence from any particular structuralized narrative. The ubiquitous yet uncertain subject of sex,Read MoreThe Controversial History Behind Sexuality1951 Words   |  8 PagesThroughout history, sexuality has been an extremely discussed and disputed topic. In the United States, views on gays and lesbians have fluctuated as social norms changed and adapted rapidly as the nation grew into a major international superpower. Even today, the topic of sexuality is one of the most controversial and progressive movements sweeping the country as more and more states pass laws allowing the marriage of gay and lesbian couples. This essay will attempt to delve into the controversialRead MoreA Long History Of Sexuality Is Conditioned And Inhibited By A Complicated History1402 Words   |  6 Pagesthink about sexuality is conditioned and inhibited by a complicated history and, to make our problems worse, that history is in the power of those who have necessarily been antagonistic to women for a very long time. Males generally have been economically and socially superior to women since they became the primary producers and possessors of private property.† (Murphy Robinson, 1984: 251) One of Western societies biggest social taboos is sex. Even more so, there is a long history of repressedRead MoreThe Perception of Human Sexuality throughout History1030 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout history it is evident that human sexuality changes do to religious, governmental and societal influences. The perception of human sexuality has gone through many changes such as being very open and unlabeled activity; to being very â€Å"conservative† and a topic that shouldn’t be talked about in public or at all. In any case, human sexuality has always been a topic of interest because humans are sexual beings who want to understand the consciousness of themselves as male or female and seeRead More The Introduction to the History of Sexuality by Foucault Essay1118 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how during the 19th century with the raise of new societies, the discourse or knowledge about sex was not confronted wi th repulsion but it â€Å"put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex† (Foucault 69). In fact, this spreading of discourse on sexuality itself gives a clear account of how sexuality has been controlled and confined because it was determined in a certain kind of knowledge that carriesRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Sexual : A History Of Sexuality Essay2012 Words   |  9 PagesThe Importance of Being Sexual: A History of Sexuality Sex is the force that drives the continuation of humanity, and sexuality is an integral part of human life. Next to survival, the most primitive primal human instinct is sex. Sexuality is something carnal and pervasive, something that is responsible for and touches the lives of everyone. Understanding its history, its relativity to culture and era, and its fluidity of meaning is vital to gaining and composing a full understanding of the behaviors