--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sexual behavior is not, as is too often…" description: "\"Sexual behavior is not, as is too often assumed, a superimposition of, on the one hand, desires which derive from natural instincts, and, on the other ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80f/michel-foucault-1134_behavior_sexual-behavior-is-not-as-is-too-often-a_2272135.jpg" --- # Sexual behavior is not, as is too often assumed, a… ![“Sexual behavior is not, as is too often assumed, a superimposition of, on the one hand, desires which derive from natural instincts, and, on the other hand, of permissive or restrictive laws which tell us what we should or shouldn't do. Sexual behavior is more than that.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80f/michel-foucault-1134_behavior_sexual-behavior-is-not-as-is-too-often-a_2272135.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80f/michel-foucault-1134_behavior_sexual-behavior-is-not-as-is-too-often-a_2272135.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80f/michel-foucault-1134_behavior_sexual-behavior-is-not-as-is-too-often-a_2272135.jpg) > “Sexual behavior is not, as is too often assumed, a superimposition of, on the one hand, desires which derive from natural instincts, and, on the other hand, of permissive or restrictive laws which tell us what we should or shouldn't do. Sexual behavior is more than that.” [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Sexual behavior is not merely instinct plus law; it is shaped by complex social, cultural, and power structures. **In simple terms:** Sex is more than instinct and rules. Key Takeaway Explore social influences on sexuality. Themes sexuality power social constructs law Mood analytical critical Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - policy making - education - personal identity Key Concepts critical theory human behavior Questions to Reflect On - How do power relations shape sexual norms? - What role do laws play in personal desire? A Different Perspective Oversimplifying can ignore deeper power dynamics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behavior/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Natural instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-instinct/) [Sexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexuality/) ## Related quotes > [A ham is simply any actor who has not been successful in repressing his natural instincts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-jean-nathan/a-ham-is-simply-any-actor-who-has-not-been-successful-in-repressing/) [George Jean Nathan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-jean-nathan/) > [Sometimes my natural instincts take over and I just go overboard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-goldberg/sometimes-my-natural-instincts-take-over-and-i-just-go-overboard/) [Bill Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-goldberg/) > [Regulation of sexual behavior is the preferred route to wider social control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-cockburn/regulation-of-sexual-behavior-is-the-preferred-route-to-wider-social/) [Alexander Cockburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-cockburn/) > [The problem with every judgment of sexual behavior is that it is made by people who aren't being stimulated as they are making the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-farrell/the-problem-with-every-judgment-of-sexual-behavior-is-that-it-is-made/) [Warren Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-farrell/) > [The only unnatural sexual behavior is none at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-only-unnatural-sexual-behavior-is-none-at-all/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [ \[John Boswell\] introduction of the concept of "gay" (in the way he defines it) provides us both with a useful instrument of research and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/john-boswell-introduction-of-the-concept-of-gay-in-the-way-he-defines/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I get 0.5 seconds to react to a ball, sometimes even less than that. I can't be thinking of what XYZ has said about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sachin-tendulkar/i-get-0-5-seconds-to-react-to-a-ball-sometimes-even-less-than-that-i/) [Sachin Tendulkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sachin-tendulkar/) > [One of the fundamental demonstrations of our natural instinct to Bond with each other is a will to give. Rather than domination, our most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-mctaggart/one-of-the-fundamental-demonstrations-of-our-natural-instinct-to-bond/) [Lynne McTaggart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-mctaggart/) > [His universal compassion was due less to natural instinct, than to a profound conviction, a sum of thoughts that in the course of living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/his-universal-compassion-was-due-less-to-natural-instinct-than-to-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [I guess because I'm a liberal I think it's not people's natural instinct to be completely self-interested.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-weiner/i-guess-because-i-m-a-liberal-i-think-it-s-not-people-s-natural/) [Matthew Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-weiner/) > [The ideal is unnatural naturalness, or natural unnaturalness. I mean it is a combination of both. I mean here is natural instinct and here…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-lee/the-ideal-is-unnatural-naturalness-or-natural-unnaturalness-i-mean-it/) [Bruce Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-lee/) > [For me, that's natural. The instinct to score comes naturally and if you have it, you've got to go to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reggie-lewis/for-me-that-s-natural-the-instinct-to-score-comes-naturally-and-if/) [Reggie Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reggie-lewis/) > [I don't have a very good relationship with baking. I do bake sometimes, but my natural instinct is to just do what feels right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thu-tran/i-don-t-have-a-very-good-relationship-with-baking-i-do-bake-sometimes/) [Thu Tran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thu-tran/) > [I think that's just a natural instinct as an actor is that you want to just keep exploring humanity and finding different facets of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erika-christensen/i-think-that-s-just-a-natural-instinct-as-an-actor-is-that-you-want/) [Erika Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erika-christensen/) > [ We have a lot to learn from \[bonobos\], because they're a very egalitarian society and they're a very empathetic society. Sexual behavior is not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-savage-rumbaugh/we-have-a-lot-to-learn-from-bonobos-because-they-re-a-very/) [Sue Savage-Rumbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-savage-rumbaugh/) ## More by Michel Foucault > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The book is not simply the object that one holds in one's hands, and it cannot remain within the little parallelpiped that contains it:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-book-is-not-simply-the-object-that-one-holds-in-one-s-hands-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I'm no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/i-m-no-prophet-my-job-is-making-windows-where-there-were-once-walls/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Let us ask... how things work at the level of on-going subjugation, at the level of those continuous and uninterrupted processes which subject our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/let-us-ask-how-things-work-at-the-level-of-on-going-subjugation-at/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't only weigh on us as a force that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/what-makes-power-hold-good-what-makes-it-accepted-is-simply-the-fact/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“It was a matter of showing by what conjunctions a whole set of practices-- from the moment they became coordinated with a regime of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-was-a-matter-of-showing-by-what-conjunctions-a-whole-set-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The preferred medications were those that forestalled corruption. We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-preferred-medications-were-those-that-forestalled-corruption-we/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-man-described-for-us-whom-we-are-invited-to-free-is-already-in/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Confined on the ship, from which there is no escape, the madman is delivered to the river with its thousand arms, the sea with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/confined-on-the-ship-from-which-there-is-no-escape-the-madman-is/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Believe what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/believe-what-is-productive-is-not-sedentary-but-nomadic/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [An American professor complained that a crypto-Marxist like me was invited in the USA, and I was denounced by the press in Eastern European…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/an-american-professor-complained-that-a-crypto-marxist-like-me-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/withdraw-allegiance-from-the-old-categories-of-the-negative-law-limit/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) [Explore all 272 Michel Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More Behavior quotes > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behaviour. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-you-begin-changing-your-thinking-start-immediately-to-change-your/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I now know that deep within the human concept is something dark, selfish, and completely willing to do whatever is necessary to support the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-west/i-now-know-that-deep-within-the-human-concept-is-something-dark/) [Melissa West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-west/) > [“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [The number of poor, and poorly prepared, students who succeed in college and beyond undercuts the simplistic notion that economic or educational disadvantage is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-merullo/the-number-of-poor-and-poorly-prepared-students-who-succeed-in/) [Roland Merullo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-merullo/) > [To behave creatively in art means behavior with skill; and skill comes from discipline, not derangement. The artist who knows the rules -and proportion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burne-hogarth/to-behave-creatively-in-art-means-behavior-with-skill-and-skill-comes/) Burne Hogarth > [You don't put milk in chamomile tea - that's disgusting behavior! That's not right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-fraser/you-don-t-put-milk-in-chamomile-tea-that-s-disgusting-behavior-that-s/) [Laura Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-fraser/) > [The laws of thermodynamics, as empirically determined, express the approximate and probable behavior of systems of a great number of particles, or, more precisely,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-willard-gibbs/the-laws-of-thermodynamics-as-empirically-determined-express-the/) J. Willard Gibbs > [I started with the belief that every person who came to the laboratory was free to accept or to reject the dictates of authority.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-milgram/i-started-with-the-belief-that-every-person-who-came-to-the/) [Stanley Milgram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-milgram/) > [The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/the-tipping-point-is-that-magic-moment-when-an-idea-trend-or-social/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [I think we've told a lot of lies about human behavior through film.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-arquette/i-think-we-ve-told-a-lot-of-lies-about-human-behavior-through-film/) [Patricia Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-arquette/) > [The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-spock/the-strongest-rebellion-may-be-expressed-in-quiet-undramatic-behavior/) [Benjamin Spock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-spock/) > [The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-conquest/the-behavior-of-any-bureaucratic-organization-can-best-be-understood/) [Robert Conquest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-conquest/) > [If you want good behavior, don't pay on a commission basis. Our judges aren't paid so much a case. We keep them pretty well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/if-you-want-good-behavior-don-t-pay-on-a-commission-basis-our-judges/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) [Browse all 4,218 Behavior quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behavior/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sexual behavior is not, as is too often assumed, a superimposition of, on the one hand, desires which derive from natural instincts, and, on the other hand, of permissive or restrictive laws which tell us what we should or shouldn't do. 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