Routledge Guidebook to Foucault's The History of Sexuality

Chloë Taylor is Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Philosophy at the University of Alberta, Canada. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a Tomlinson postdoctoral fellow in Philosophy at McGill University.

Taylor’s well-written guide to Foucault’s History of Sexuality promises to become a welcome companion for students delving into Foucault’s influential text, as it provides historical context and clarifies points of reference that may require some explanation and background for the new reader of Foucault.Claudia Schippert, University of Central Florida, USAIn this invaluable guide to Foucault’s History of Sexuality Volume 1, Taylor offers a lucid explication of one of the most consistently misread books of our time. Without sacrificing nuance or depth, Taylor frames Foucault’s History of Sexuality within the history of eugenics. This text will be especially illuminating for students who have looked to Foucault for a theory of sexual liberation. The chapters on Foucault’s uptake by feminists and queer theorists are a tour de force! Highly recommended for beginners and experts alike. Lynne Huffer, Emory University, USA

• Introduction Chapter One: The Will to Know Questioning the Repressive HypothesisConfessionThe Social Construction of SexualitiesThe Perverse ImplantationChapter Two: Power Over Life Objective: RegicideMethod: or How to Theorize Power without the KingPower is everywherePower is warPower is relational Power is immanentPower comes from belowPower relations are intentional and non-subjectivePower produces resistanceChapter Three: Women, Children, Couples and ‘Perverts’ Denaturalizing SexDomain: The FamilyWomenChildrenCouples‘Perverts’Periodization: Retelling the History of SexualityChapter Four: Sex, Racism, and Death From Sanguinity to SexualityFoucault’s Genealogy of Modern RacismFrom Spectacles of Death to the Management of MorbidityExecutionsSuicideWarLetting DieDe-sexing sexualityChapter Five: The History of Sexuality and Feminist TheoryFeminist TensionsThe Repressive Hypothesis, Identity Politics, and the Feminist Sex WarsConsciousness Raising, Confession, and ExperienceFeminist Bodies and Pleasures Chapter Six: The History of Sexuality and Queer Theory From Feminism to Queer Theory‘A Queer Voice’Canonizing Foucault ‘The Imperial Prude’Chapter Seven: A Genealogy of the Desiring Subject Revising the ProjectSexual Austerity and the Monogamous IdealUsing SexSexual Anxiety‘The antimony of the boy’A Male EthicsEthics versus CodesScalePositions and PartnersSexual BinariesSex and HealthSex without PsychologyThe Use of The Use of PleasureBibliography