The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge

What it is about

Foucault challenges the familiar story that modern Western societies simply repressed sexuality until liberation made speech possible. He argues instead that institutions multiplied discourse about sex, classifying populations, producing expert knowledge, and linking confession, administration, medicine, and identity through what he calls biopower. Its place here is personal: I want the argument to meet the life I am actually living.

Why I keep it

Foucault on how sex became something to confess.

Key ideas

Beside it on the shelf · Language & Reference