The Routledge Guidebook to Foucault's The History of Sexuality

Introduction





Chapter One: The Will to Know


Questioning the Repressive Hypothesis


Confession


The Social Construction of Sexualities


The Perverse Implantation





Chapter Two: Power Over Life


Objective: Regicide


Method: or How to Theorize Power without the King


Power is everywhere


Power is war


Power is relational


Power is immanent


Power comes from below


Power relations are intentional and non-subjective


Power produces resistance





Chapter Three: Women, Children, Couples and 'Perverts'


Denaturalizing Sex


Domain: The Family


Women


Children


Couples


'Perverts'


Periodization: Retelling the History of Sexuality





Chapter Four: Sex, Racism, and Death


From Sanguinity to Sexuality


Foucault's Genealogy of Modern Racism


From Spectacles of Death to the Management of Morbidity


Executions


Suicide


War


Letting Die


De-sexing sexuality





Chapter Five: The History of Sexuality and Feminist Theory


Feminist Tensions


The Repressive Hypothesis, Identity Politics, and the Feminist Sex Wars


Consciousness Raising, Confession, and Experience


Feminist 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 Project


Sexual Austerity and the Monogamous Ideal


Using Sex


Sexual Anxiety


'The antimony of the boy'


A Male Ethics


Ethics versus Codes


Scale


Positions and Partners


Sexual Binaries


Sex and Health


Sex without Psychology


The Use of The Use of Pleasure





Bibliography
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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, USA


In 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
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Chloe 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.
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