Snippet on Foucault

It is the end of class and I am left wondering…thinking…I did a project on Foucault. I read all of his History of Sexuality. Vol I through III. Some of it I didnt understand due to Foucault’s language in the 2nd and 3rd and how he rambled on about the Roman-Greco practices of loving boys. The first book is far more interesting for Foucault’s ideas and contemplations as are his other books for their ideas (his book on Punishment).

One of his quotes to ponder on, as well as the implications of religion:

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“We are often reminded of the countless procedures which Christianity once employed to make us detest the body; but let us ponder all the ruses that were employed to make us love sex, to make the knowledge of it desirable and everything about it precious” -Michel Foucault The History of Sexuality Vol I: An Introduction (1978, 159)

“Next, let me take on the supposed domination effected by the concept of religion. The term ‘religion’ is ‘our’ word. As such, ‘religion’ is freighted with so much western historical baggage that it would be plausibly useless for purposes of cross-cultural comparative study”

from Ivan Strenski’s “Religion, Power, and Final Foucault” (356)

This two really made me think about where religion came from (this was a problem for me for most of the course because it implied what we would be searching for the entire semester. That is the problem for most scientists, human beings, etc. We use our language to narrow down a search and in thus doing so leave out possibilities.

On another note:

Today is the national day against homophobia: http://www.homophobiaday.org/

Also, another update, California has legalized gay marriage (or civil unions?…Im not sure about this).