Marie89, Foucault

I had to read the same text, The History of Sexuality, previously this year for my English class where we study Gender Adaptations. In the class, we discuss the different ways in which gender and sexuality are socially constructed ideas rather than natural aspects of males and females. We often study how gender is an ideology rather than a natural aspect of males and females, as there are certain gender roles and norms that we associate with the sexes, yet, we rarely consider sexuality to be a working ideology as well. After reading Foucault, I discovered that the society in which we live is naïve about sexuality despite the hype about the topic. It seems to engulf our beings as every aspect of our culture is somehow tied into sex and sexuality. It is interesting to think that there has been an evolution about the topic as its discussion and prevalence within culture has forever been changing. The idea that different cultural aspects have forever changed and therefore have great history, differing prevalence, and varying purposes depending on the year is an interesting concept. Depending on the ruling class at the time, different ideas are permeated, proving that ideology plays a large role in the functioning of society. If there was no ideology, then it is likely that concepts of culture would remain the same rather than varying. When the ruling class varies throughout the world and at various times, then so do ideologies. It is also an interesting concept that we live in a society do engulfed in the present that we regret to search for hidden meanings and purposes of cultural ideas. We need to continue to challenge socially constructed ideas in order to acknowledge that we are in fact within ideology rather than truth.