Our group is using Michel Foucault's "History of Sexuality". We are using this piece of pure theory as the basis of our queer theory analysis of "Broke Back Mountain". Foucault first explain the "repressive theory" which argues that that rise of the negative connotation of homosexuality parallels the rise of the bourgeosie 300 years ago. In a capitalist society, the bourgeosie benefits financially from a working class that is not distracted from their work. As a result, any kind of activity that someone does purely for pleasurable purposes is a bad thing in the eyes of the bourgeosie. Obviously, two men, or two women, can not have a baby. Therefore, gay sex is purely pleasurable, and as a result, it becomes something that is unacceptable. This theory argues that not only is gay sex frowned upon, but it is actively repressed by the bourgeosie. Through the use of the superstructure, the bourgeosie have convinced the working class that homosexuality is something that is a unspeakable, unthinkable, terrible thing.
Foucault rejects the "repressive theory"; instead, he argues the opposite. He believes that the negative connotation that surrounds homosexuality is a result of the sexual liberation that has taken and place. Foucault believes that people actively talk about sex, and it is the way that people talk about sex, and homosexuality, that has created a society that is oppressive to homosexuals.
Foucault argues that our society is unique in our approach to sexuality, because we do not talk about it in general. We talk about it from a scientific viewpoint. We analyze it and did studies on it. 300 years ago the discourses on sexuality in medicine, psychiatry, criminal justice, and social work emerged. This is when we started to talk about sexuality from a neutral viewpoint. Scientists did not address sex itself. They addressed the abbereations, perversions, oddities, and stuff like that. It made people afraid, because they presented their research as absolute fact, so people started to think things like homosexuality would spread or be passed on. Freud for example described homosexuality as an "abnormality" that results from an error in a child's developmental stage.
Foucault also believes the Christian "right to reconciliation" played a large role in the way we see sexuality and ultimately homosexuality. Through confession, truth and sex have combined, and from that dislike of homosexuality evolved. People have always asked questions like "who are we" or "where are we from", Christians answer those questions with their religion, so their religion becomes their source of truth about themselves. In a confession you confess your crimes and your sins. Sex and unpure thoughts are often part of that confession. This associates sex with bad things. Homosexuality itself is a sin to orthodox Christians. Because their religion is their source of truth about themselves, through confession, sexuality becomes part of that truth about who they are. Since they now see themselves in terms of sexuality, they will then start seeing other people in terms of sexuality. Sex becomes more than just sex like this. It becomes a source of knowledge about someone, and it says alot about their character to them. So if sexuality says alot about someone's character and you have people like Freud saying homosexuality is an abnormalitie than that is going to create a society that sees homosexuality in a negative light.
We are using this theory both as an explanation of homosexual repression and to demonstrate how the work itself is a piece of the bourgeosie superstrucutre. It reveals a society that is oppressive to homosexuals, and it illustrates how literature is used to oppress homosexuals.
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