Corey Davis

EN 234: Gay & Lesbian Literature

February 18, 2018

Critical Response No. 1

Professor Marcus Brock

After reading ​The History of Sexuality Vol. 1 b​ y Michel Foucault, the topic of repression

of our sexuality has opened my eyes to the teachings of our society and its impact on not only

my life, but all of our lives that we choose to live. In this novel, our traditional ways of thinking

are questioned after Foucault creates a discussion about sex and sexuality and how these

teachings play into our lives. After reading all of this, it has made me realize that everything can

all be traced back to this “repressive hypothesis” that is mentioned in the novel.

Before reading this book, I had read about different theories regarding our sexuality and

its driving forces and it was interesting to say the least; but with this novel, the concepts are

explained much more in depth and I was able to tie them into today’s society and this movement

of sexual liberation and being a proud sexual being. The best way to explain how I felt about this

novel is that everything just started clicking. Everything from the shame, the secrecy, and overall

guilt that we have about sex and our sexualities finally made sense and gave reason behind why

we are the way we are and how society’s mindset has created this taboo surrounding sex.

Throughout the novel, Foucault mentions the word discourse, especially discourse on sexuality

and it made me think about myself and my generation and how I think that we are going to bring

about a change when it comes to really opening up discussion about important topics such as

sexuality and other civil movements.

 Overall, I feel as though this novel has not only informed me about the origin of our ways

of thinking, but also made me think about the future of our society and how our traditional ways

of thinking are diminishing and how society as a whole is changing. As a member of the

LGBTQIA+ community, I definitely feel as though this book backs our narrative and gives us

some validation as we are often left out of the conversation, especially when traditional teachings

(especially those surrounding religion) are discussed. This goes back to the novel and how

discourse on sexuality has been confined to the idea of how both sex and marriage should stay

between a man and a woman. However, after reading this novel, my views about sexuality were

definitely reinforced and I believe that there should be more discussion surrounding the topic.

Sometimes just talking about it is enough.