Part 4, Chapter 3, Domain Summary and Analysis

Sexuality is the name given to a historical construct. It is not a biological reality; it is not reproduction, and it is not the act of coitus. Sexuality is a great diffuse network including the stimulation of bodies, the intensification of pleasures, the incitement to discourses, the formation of special knowledge, and the strengthening of controls and resistances. Sexualities are diverse, and distinct sexualities struggle against other sexuality to attempt to attain supremacy, however transiently. Sexuality is tied to power and is rapidly expanding. It is not reproductive; rather it is an intensification of the body.

Modern sexuality consists of four principle branches based on four power centers. These historical processes of note are: the hysterization of women's bodies; the pedagogy of children's sex; the socialization of procreation, and the psychiatrization of perversion. Women have been viewed...