Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 10:42:01 -0600 From: Tony Lack <alack-AT-lee.edu> Subject: Re: sexual ethics >Okay, okay! I'll post something! > >I wonder if anyone out there can recommend some reading for me. I'm based >in the UK reading for a PhD, and I'm looking at Foucault's work on sexual >ethics. I shall be using it to look at present day 'self-help' texts (eg >Men are From Mars etc) I want to see what kind of ethics these books >promote, and what kind of subject they are aiming to produce. I want to >try to avoid a simplistic dismissal of them as being either purely >subjugating discourses or symptomatic of the 'Californian cult of the >self' about which Foucault was so sniffy. I also want to avoid an >uncritical celebration of their liberatory potential, as proposed by some >other scholars - I shall mention no names!! > >It seems to me that these texts must tell us something our culture because >they are so popular and sell in such huge numbers - and here in the UK >they have, in many instances, entered into common parlance (I expect it's >the same elsewhere). > > >Can anyone suggest either: > >any specific sections of Foucault's work I should look at (besides the >History of Sex trilogy), or >any particularly interesting/popular self-help books (especially those >about relationships), or >the work of any other theorists/scholars which might be relevant? > Rebecca, I hope this is relevant. Anthony Giddens has said quite a bit about the self- help literature. As I read him, and it has been a while, he ties the emergence of self-help literature to certain changes in late-capitalist society (and late-capitalist subjectivity). I can be more specific if you like, but won't waste everyone's time here. See, 'Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the late modern age" kenneth J. gergen is also helpful, "the saturated self: dilemmas of identity . . ." i cannot find exact title - book is at home (easy read) > > >I would really appreciate any suggerstions, advice or comments. >Thanks for helping. > Rebecca sounds like interesting work. how about looking for something useful in 'the care of the self'? perhaps this is a *slightly* different foucault than you had in mind though. ? tony lack > > > > --- <excerpt>Okay, okay! I'll post something! I wonder if anyone out there can recommend some reading for me. I'm based in the UK reading for a PhD, and I'm looking at Foucault's work on sexual ethics. I shall be using it to look at present day 'self-help' texts (eg <italic>Men are From Mars</italic> etc) I want to see what kind of ethics these books promote, and what kind of subject they are aiming to produce. I want to try to avoid a simplistic dismissal of them as being either purely subjugating discourses or symptomatic of the 'Californian cult of the self' about which Foucault was so sniffy. I also want to avoid an uncritical celebration of their liberatory potential, as proposed by some other scholars - I shall mention no names!! It seems to me that these texts must tell us something our culture because they are so popular and sell in such huge numbers - and here in the UK they have, in many instances, entered into common parlance (I expect it's the same elsewhere). Can anyone suggest either: <paraindent><param>left</param> any specific sections of Foucault's work I should look at (besides the <italic>History of Sex </italic>trilogy<italic>), </italic>or any particularly interesting/popular self-help books (especially those about relationships), or the work of any other theorists/scholars which might be relevant? </paraindent> </excerpt> Rebecca, I hope this is relevant. Anthony Giddens has said quite a bit about the self- help literature. As I read him, and it has been a while, he ties the emergence of self-help literature to certain changes in late-capitalist society (and late-capitalist subjectivity). I can be more specific if you like, but won't waste everyone's time here. See, 'Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the late modern age" kenneth J. gergen is also helpful, "the saturated self: dilemmas of identity . . ." i cannot find exact title - book is at home (easy read) <excerpt> I would really appreciate any suggerstions, advice or comments. Thanks for helping. </excerpt>Rebecca sounds like interesting work. how about looking for something useful in 'the care of the self'? perhaps this is a *slightly* different foucault than you had in mind though. ? tony lack <excerpt> </excerpt><fontfamily><param>Arial</param>---</fontfamily>
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