Books › Histoire de la sexualité
Histoire de la sexualité
First published 1976 · 339 pages
A paradigm-shifting dismantling of everything you thought you knew about desire, power, and the illusion of repression.
What it feels like
Reading this foundational text feels less like studying history and more like watching the invisible scaffolding of modern society be systematically dismantled before your eyes. The pace is steady and demanding, requiring you to sit with dense, erudite prose that rewards patience with sudden, mind-expanding paradigm shifts. It possesses a clinical, detached mood, yet the intellectual thrill of its arguments is deeply provocative. You are guided through a labyrinth of power dynamics, institutional control, and the startling realization that what we consider repression is actually a complex production of discourse. It is a profoundly destabilizing and exhilarating read, perfect for critical thinkers and theory enthusiasts who love having their fundamental assumptions about identity, desire, and authority permanently rewired.
- Mood
- intellectual
- paradigm-shifting
- contemplative
- clinical
- Tone
- analytical
- subversive
- scholarly
- provocative
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- power dynamics · the construction of desire · institutional control · the illusion of repression · biopolitics
- The writing
- Dense, erudite, and rhetorically powerful, characterized by sweeping historical claims and intricate logical inversions.
- The arc
- Moves from a state of accepted conventional wisdom to a profoundly destabilizing realization about the invisible forces shaping human identity.
- Who it's for
- Critical thinkers and theory enthusiasts who love having their fundamental assumptions about identity, desire, and authority permanently rewired.
Content notes
- clinical descriptions of sexuality
- discussions of institutional abuse
- historical homophobia
About the book
Library has vol. 1, 2. * Translation of Histoire de la sexuality. * Includes bibliographical references and index. * CONTENTS: --v. 1. An introduction. --v. 2. The use of pleasure.
Description from Open Library.
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