--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The question I would like to pose is not…" description: "\"“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 ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg" --- # The question I would like to pose is not, Why are we… ![“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…” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg) > ““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.”” [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. 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. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affirm Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affirm-sex-3952504/) [Prohibition Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prohibition-sex-3952503/) [Repressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/repressed/) [Repressed Say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/repressed-say-3952502/) [Repression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/repression/) [Sex Negated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex-negated-3952501/) [Sexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexuality/) ## Related quotes > [ \[T\]hus one should not think that desire is repressed, for the simple reason that the law is what constitutes both desire and the lack… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/t-hus-one-should-not-think-that-desire-is-repressed-for-the-simple/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [To play a repressed gay man, I had to explore what life was like in an era of sexual repression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-dicaprio/to-play-a-repressed-gay-man-i-had-to-explore-what-life-was-like-in-an/) [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-dicaprio/) > [So when I read this story, it unlocked a volcano of unanswered questions, because the questions had never been asked. It was an opportunity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillip-noyce/so-when-i-read-this-story-it-unlocked-a-volcano-of-unanswered/) [Phillip Noyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillip-noyce/) > [And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-the-little-screaming-fact-that-sounds-through-all-history/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The onset of mania occurs when repression is no longer able to resist the assaults of the repressed instincts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-abraham/the-onset-of-mania-occurs-when-repression-is-no-longer-able-to-resist/) [Karl Abraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-abraham/) > [ He \[Wilhelm Reich\] believed that the individual's walk, stance, and breath patterns revealed a specific character type. Reich thought chronic muscular tension indicated repression… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-lynne-hanna/he-wilhelm-reich-believed-that-the-individual-s-walk-stance-and/) [Judith Lynne Hanna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-lynne-hanna/) > [“Expression is life; repression is suicide. When you live a repressed life, you live not at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osho/expression-is-life-repression-is-suicide-when-you-live-a-repressed/) [Osho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osho/) > [Education is the most powerful tool countries have for boosting economic growth, increasing prosperity and forging more just, peaceful and equitable societies. Where educational…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kopp/education-is-the-most-powerful-tool-countries-have-for-boosting/) [Wendy Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kopp/) > [“Too many of us move through our lives with our true selves buried below layers of repressed emotion. With so much energy channeled toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-brown/too-many-of-us-move-through-our-lives-with-our-true-selves-buried/) [Jeff Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-brown/) > [“Help! Help! I'm being repressed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-gilliam/help-help-i-m-being-repressed/) [Terry Gilliam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-gilliam/) > [But the repressed merges into the id as well, and is merely a part of it. The repressed is only cut off sharply from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/but-the-repressed-merges-into-the-id-as-well-and-is-merely-a-part-of/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [You assume we are all sexually stable; while on the other hand, as I have become acquainted with people, I find that they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/you-assume-we-are-all-sexually-stable-while-on-the-other-hand-as-i/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [“Treating Abuse Today (Tat), 3(4), pp. 26-33 Freyd: I see what you're saying but people in psychology don't have a uniform agreement on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-l-calof/treating-abuse-today-tat-3-4-pp-26-33-freyd-i-see-what-you-re-saying/) [David L. Calof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-l-calof/) > [In those who rest on their unshakable faith, pharisaism and fanaticism are the unmistakable symptoms of doubt which has been repressed. Doubt is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tillich/in-those-who-rest-on-their-unshakable-faith-pharisaism-and-fanaticism/) [Paul Tillich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tillich/) > [“But the true nature which we repress continues nevertheless to abide within us. Thus it is that at times, if we read the latest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-true-nature-which-we-repress-continues-nevertheless-to-abide/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## 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 Repressed quotes > [...I have to tell you that I'm not all that comfortable with the idea of spending the rest of my life sleeping next to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-elizabeth-phillips/i-have-to-tell-you-that-i-m-not-all-that-comfortable-with-the-idea-of/) [Susan Elizabeth Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-elizabeth-phillips/) > [I was brought up by the English side of my family, who are very repressed and working class. Absolutely lovely, but very English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bat-for-lashes/i-was-brought-up-by-the-english-side-of-my-family-who-are-very/) [Bat for Lashes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bat-for-lashes/) > [To play a repressed gay man, I had to explore what life was like in an era of sexual repression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-dicaprio/to-play-a-repressed-gay-man-i-had-to-explore-what-life-was-like-in-an/) [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-dicaprio/) > [In those who rest on their unshakable faith, pharisaism and fanaticism are the unmistakable symptoms of doubt which has been repressed. Doubt is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tillich/in-those-who-rest-on-their-unshakable-faith-pharisaism-and-fanaticism/) [Paul Tillich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tillich/) > [Most Americans take their freedom very seriously, but they don't realize that not everyone is free. The repressed are not free to do what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnathon-schaech/most-americans-take-their-freedom-very-seriously-but-they-don-t/) [Johnathon Schaech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnathon-schaech/) > [Joy of life... depends upon a certain spontaneity in regard to sex. Where sex is repressed, only work remains, and a gospel of work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/joy-of-life-depends-upon-a-certain-spontaneity-in-regard-to-sex-where/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [The object of geometry in all its measuring and computing, is to ascertain with exactness the plan of the great Geometer, to penetrate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-peirce/the-object-of-geometry-in-all-its-measuring-and-computing-is-to/) [Benjamin Peirce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-peirce/) > [In the name of celibacy, sex has been repressed for centuries and you have become just full of sexuality. Rather than transcending it you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/in-the-name-of-celibacy-sex-has-been-repressed-for-centuries-and-you/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [“She had inhibited her sympathy, one genuine sympathetic impulse would have ruined her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/she-had-inhibited-her-sympathy-one-genuine-sympathetic-impulse-would/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [Catholicism is not ritualism; it may in the future be fighting some sort of superstitious and idolatrous exaggeration of ritual. Catholicism is not asceticism;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/catholicism-is-not-ritualism-it-may-in-the-future-be-fighting-some/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [What I would like you always to do is what I try humbly to do myself, that is, never to say or to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abby-aldrich-rockefeller/what-i-would-like-you-always-to-do-is-what-i-try-humbly-to-do-myself/) [Abby Aldrich Rockefeller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abby-aldrich-rockefeller/) > [Were we to still be circumcising the hood of the female clitoris, we would not have difficulty considering this a continuation of our tradition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-farrell/were-we-to-still-be-circumcising-the-hood-of-the-female-clitoris-we/) [Warren Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-farrell/) > [I would say to any artist: Don't be repressed in your work, dare to experiment, consider any urge, if in a new direction all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-weston/i-would-say-to-any-artist-don-t-be-repressed-in-your-work-dare-to/) [Edward Weston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-weston/) > [All fanaticism is repressed doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/all-fanaticism-is-repressed-doubt/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“So, once again, I ignored my poor, repressed libido--which was currently clamoring for me to lure Ryu behind the counter and knock him out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-peeler/so-once-again-i-ignored-my-poor-repressed-libido-which-was-currently/) [Nicole Peeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-peeler/) [Browse all 196 Repressed quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/repressed/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“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? 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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.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Foucault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not-why-are-we-repressed-but/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Repressed" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not-why-are-we-repressed-but/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/738/michel-foucault-1134_repression_the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not_453392.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The question I would like to pose is not, Why are we repressed? but rather, Why do we say, with so much…” — Michel Foucault", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michel Foucault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The question I would like to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not-why-are-we-repressed-but/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-question-i-would-like-to-pose-is-not-why-are-we-repressed-but/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```