In Georges Bastille’s “Eroticism, Death and Sensuality”, Bastille seeks to explain what exactly Eroticism is, the cause of Eroticism, and links created through Eroticism. George Bastille is often regarded by many literary writers such as Foucault states Bastille to be the most influential sexuality writer of the 20th century. Foucault also states he derived many of his believes as a result of reading Bastille’s work. Through Bastille’s work, Bastille attempts to instill what exactly Eroticism is, where Eroticism is derived, and how it applies in society. In Bastille ‘s Eroticism, Death and Sensuality”, Bastille defines what exactly Eroticism is. In Bastille introduction, Bastille states that “The human spirit is prey to the most astounding impulses. Man goes constantly in fear of himself. His erotic urges terrify him.” (Death and Sensuality, Page 7). Contrary to popular belief, Bastille believes that humans are in fact afraid of erotic behaviors despite having urges to perform erotic behavior. Furthermore, Bastille defines Eroticism as “Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest independent of the natural goal reproduction and the desire for children. …show more content…
Nevertheless, Bastille states although Eroticism is independent of reproduction, he states “the fundamental meaning of reproduction, is the key to Eroticism. Reproduction implies the meaning of discontinuous beings. (Death and sensuality Page 13). Utilizing an example Dr. Britnall gave in a lecture, when Dr. Britnall lectures about sexuality in Shakespeare he is connected to us as a whole, yet when he goes home and experience a cut on his finger, that experience is not ours to experience. However, in spite of stating reproduction brings about disconnections beings, Bastilles furthermore explains sex is linked with continuity intimately relating to death. Through sex being related to death, Bastille explains this continuity to be the dominant aspect of eroticism. In addition, Bastille identifies three types of eroticism, physical eroticism, and religious eroticism.
Bastille states that however small an animal may be all animals follow the same reproduction pattern with the only deviation belonging to humans is violence. Bastille questions the concept of physical eroticism in his essay, “What does physical eroticism signify if not a violation of the very being of its practitioners? A violation bordering on death, bordering on murder.” Bastille portrayed this question as most people in society see physical eroticism borders violence. Physical eroticism is necessary as a result of physical eroticism strikes the upmost core of a certain individual and in by doing this, we participate in the process of dissolution. Although he gives the male the active status and the female a passive status in which one can view Bastille with a hint of Misogyny, Bastille says regardless of the status given, both parts participate in the process of dissolution. By performing such an action we are riding ourselves of self-containment. In regards to emotion eroticism, Bastille states emotion eroticism can be separate from physical eroticism, however many people see these two eroticism go hand in hand. In addition, in his theory novel, Bastille states that Christianity is indeed the “least religious of all religions. He provides a buttress to this argument by stating Christianity is the only main religion that condones eroticism, thereby making Christianity the least religious group. Whether or not this assumption is true is up to the
reader. To provide a summation, Bastille states that humans fear their erotic nature, even though they possess urges to express it, states the drive behind reproduction is the drive for eroticism, eroticism is a psychological quest independent of reproduction, eroticism creates a continuity in which links eroticism with death, all three types of eroticism results in a dissolution for all partners that participate in eroticism, and that most religions explicitly encourage eroticism with the only exception being Christianity furthermore, making Christianity the least religious entity. These points are the main points Bastille points out in his novel Eroticism and one wishes to achieve better insight but analyzing and digesting these points as made above.
In the essay, Late Victorians written by Richard Rodriguez discusses an extremely controversial topic about homosexuality in San Francisco, California during the nineteenth century. Rodriguez begins his essay with a captivating perspective about human unhappiness as he writes, “Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality,” (Rodriguez 121). This gripping statement conveys the meaning that happiness or forever happiness is an illusion, therefore it cannot exist in the individual's life. The main idea of the essay Late Victorians draws out numerous opinions because of the historical impact of this specific era. For example, the limitations of sexuality or thoughts about sexuality for women, and homosexuals. The reoccurring theme appears to be stereotypes of
At the beginning of the 1900s, there was a “sexual revolution” in New York City. During this time, sexual acts and desires were not hidden, but instead they were openl...
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality, Volume I: An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1976)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula illustrated fears about sexual women in contrast to the woman who respected and abided by society’s sexual norms. Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s “Carmilla” represented not only the fear of feminine sexuality, but also the fear of sexuality between women. John William Polidori’s “The Vampyre” showed society’s fear of sexuality in terms of the seductive man who could “ruin” a young girl.These texts are representative of vampire stories in the Victorian Era, and will be the focus here.
The personification of sadomasochistic ideals in the novel comes from Martin Vanger, head of the Vanger companies and, unknown to everyone, a serial rapist and murderer. For example, Vanger may very well have felt that his father, Gottfried Vanger, by raping him as a child, had forced him to not only become the man he became, but to accept his “fate.” Stekel and Brink also explained why many serial sadomasochists kill their victims, something he labeled the death clause. The death clause explained the idea of “the parapathic amalgamation of death and normal intercourse” (Stekel and Brink 2: 246). That is, that the algolagnic behavior is so ingrained into their mind, that they can only derive normal sexual pleasure through the ultimate pain one can inflict, death. The death clause is something that Vanger seemed to very much experience, and it would explain not only his torture chamber, but why he killed almost every girl he raped.
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
”The History of Sexuality” is a three-volumes book, published around 1976 and 1984 by the french historical philosopher Michel Foucault. The three volumes are “An Introduction” (which later is known also as “The Will of Knowledge”), “The Use of the Self” and “The Care of the Self”.
The application of morality begins at a young age for many people. Many children take on the morality of their parents through the daily events that influence their development. In many ways, parental sexuality means fidelity, and the ability to stay monogamous in order to properly raise a child in a complete family unit. This in turn expresses sexual fidelity as a form of morality, and without sexual fidelity, there will be painfully undesirable consequences. Along with the family unit being an influential aspect of sexuality, religion, particularly Catholicism, claim that sexual activity is solely justified by the reason of procreation. Freud also perceived sexuality as the dark and evil part of the human being, when allowed to freely express sexuality, the person i...
In The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how during the 19th century with the raise of new societies, the discourse or knowledge about sex was not confronted with repulsion but it “put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning sex” (Foucault 69). In fact, this spreading of discourse on sexuality itself gives a clear account of how sexuality has been controlled and confined because it was determined in a certain kind of knowledge that carries power within it. Foucault reflects on the general working hypothesis or “repressive hypothesis,” and how this has exercised power to suppress people’s sexuality. It has power on deciding what is normal or abnormal and ethical or unethical about sexuality. Through discourses of life and sexuality, power is exercised because humans learned how to behave in relation to sexuality, which method keep individuals controlled and regulated. This explains why people experience that sense of behaving inappropriate when we talk about sex in a different way than the whole society. Foucault points up how sexuality is not just treated in terms of morality, but it is a matter of knowledge and “truth.” However, these discourses, including sexual discourses are not true or false, but they are just understood to be the truth or falsehood to control society. As a result, sexuality begins to be explored in a scientific way, developing the “truth” science of sex (Foucault 69). For Foucault, he asserts that sexuality has developed as a form of science that keeps us all afraid of such phenomena, which people think to be true, thus this science helps society to discipline and control individuals’ behaviors.
———"The Failure of Sex and Love in the Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre," Philosophy Research Archives. Vol. XI,1985.
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
to works which, taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex; which
This essay will analyze and critique Michel Foucault’s (1984) essay The Use of Pleasure in order to reveal certain internal weaknesses it contains and propose modifications that would strengthen his reading of sexuality as a domain of moral self-formation. In order to do so, it will present a threefold critique of his work. Firstly, it will argue that that his focus on solely the metric of pleasure divorced from its political manifestations underemphasizes state power as a structuring principle of sexuality. Secondly, it will posit that his attention to classical morality privileges written works by male elites and fails to account for the subtexts that would demonstrate other forms of morality. Finally, it will argue that the nature of actors’ resistance to moral codes, explicated through Butler’s concept of iterability and signification, is an important factor that should also be considered. As a result of this critique, this essay
Here, the distinction is made between the physiological aspect of sex and the meanings inscribed in it. In this discussion, Merleau-Ponty is referenced in explaining that the body continually realizes a set of possibilities. In framing the body in such a manner, one does not merely have or one is not merely a body – one “does” one’s body. However, there is a constraint to these possibilities made by historical conventions. What this means is that when Merleau-Ponty and Beauvoir claim that the body is a historical situation, the body does three things with that historical situation: it does it, dramatizes it, and reproduces it. These can be seen as the elementary structures of embodiment. This embodiment can then be viewed specifically from the perspective of the act of gender. Gender can then be understood differently from the biological sex as gender has a cultural interpretation that is used as a strategy for cultural survival. In its deep entrenchment, gender seems almost natural in the punishments that arise from deviating from acting in a way that creates the very idea of
When analyzing Freud’s psychosexual theory it is vital to note that he connected human drives to those of animals, thus indicating that these human drives can be broken down to a basic need for survival. Freud believed sexuality to be the most dominant biological force in determining human behavior. Freud’s theory becomes exceedingly convincing one is able to grasp the concept that his theories on sexuality and drive energy correspond more to drives and fulfillments rooted in bodily activity, than that of erotic stimulation or sexual satisfaction (Anderson & Taylor, 2007,