The History of Sexuality: The Will to Know

Why has there been such an explosion of discussion about sex in the West since the 17th century? This discourse gathered momentum in the Victorian age which, Foucault argues, was not repressive in the way we commonly imagine. Now, with sexuality continually under scrutiny, many people suppose that we are becoming more liberated, less repressed. Is this really so? This controversial account, by one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century, explores the evolving social, economic and political forces that have shaped our attitudes to sex and shows we are in the process of making a science of sex which is devoted to the analysis of desire rather than the increase of pleasure.