Repressed Quote by Michel Foucault
““The question I would like to pose is not, Why are we repressed? but rather, Why do we say, with so much passion and so much resentment... that we are repressed? By what spiral did we come to affirm that sex is negated? What led us to show, ostentatiously, that sex is something we hide, to say it is something we silence? ...I do not maintain that prohibition of sex is a ruse; but it is a ruse to make prohibition into the basic and constitutive element from which one would be able to write the history of what has been said concerning sex starting from the modern epoch.””
About This Quote
Source Lecture: The History of Sexuality, 1976
He questions why society labels sexuality as repression and how that narrative shapes history.
In simple terms: He probes why we claim sexuality is suppressed.
Key Takeaway
Examine the narratives we accept about sexuality.
Themes
power
sexuality
history
discourse
Mood
critical
analytical
Type
philosophical
theoretical
When to use this quote
- academic debate
- policy analysis
- personal reflection
Key Concepts
social construction
norms
repression
silence
Questions to Reflect On
- What assumptions underlie our view of sexual repression?
- How do power structures shape sexual narratives?
A Different Perspective
May overlook individual agency.
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