Sexual experience history

Author: (French) Foucault
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: This book is a representative work of the famous French thinker Michel Foucault. The author completed three volumes before his death, and our press translated and published it in March 2000. It was printed twice. The reason for this new edition is that our press obtained the authorization from French Gallimard Press, agreeing to include the published content of the fourth volume of A History of Sexuality, titled The Battle for Sexual Morality, as the fourth volume of this book. Taking this opportunity, the translator also revised and improved the previous translation. Therefore, the Chinese edition of A History of Sexuality will be released as the most complete version globally and will be included in the second series of The Century Library.
First, Foucault's motivation and starting point for writing this book were to oppose Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theories, as the latter, starting from the binary opposition of repression and liberation, believed that sexuality has always been denied and repressed. However, Foucault discovered that since the late 16th century, sexuality has not only been repressed but also activated, continuously being produced and reproduced. This is the result of various power relations operating within the mechanisms of sexual experience. In short, repression and liberation are precisely two interconnected aspects of the power mechanism. It manifests as the disciplinary power over the body and the government's regulation of the population—that is, "we all live in a 'sexual' society, or rather, in 'sexuality' itself. The power mechanism warns the body, life, the things that produce life, and the things that enhance the species to be mindful of their power, control, or the ability to be used. Power 'speaks to sexuality about sexuality.'"
In summary, at the intersection of the "body" and the "population," sexuality becomes the central target of power centered on the management of life.