Privacy, sexuality and power
The French philosopher Michel Foucault thought that making sexual expression and behavior more public would make our inner lives more easily subject to control and exploitation by the capitalist consumerist complex.
So writes Ken Johnson in the N Y Times, July 7, 2006, p. B23. (No original source given.)
At last Foucault says something I agree with. More and more, sexual lives are not private, not the domain of the councilor and the priest, but the domain of products and advertising. Of course going back to the 50’s suppression (to say nothing of the particular suppression of women) would not be progress, but it would be nice if we noticed that making sexuality something we treat like we treat a choice of tires for the car means that it is not sacred, and not core to our being.
And as it is removed from sacredness it is removed from having power. To make it a commodity makes it banal.
Of course, all generalizations about sexuality must be qualified. I think we still know remarkably little about how people think of sex – what we have is public discourse about sex which is not the same as actual practice.