Power in sexual relationship

Power in sexual relationship

Power has been mentioned as an essential variable in the study of sexual relationship. Power can predict a sexual behavior in the society since it is a salient variable. Power is defined as the ability to influence the attitude and behavior of an individual. There is a relationship that is commonly observed between power and sexual behavior, and this is by the type of sexual behavior and the measurement of power. Power can be measured by dominance as a sexual motive. Power sometimes can also be measured by submission as a sexual motive which is linked with participating in the normal sexual behavior for women and probably abstaining from the act for men. The paper describes the relationship between power and sexuality by explicitly exploring the language that is used to express sexuality.

In a relationship, the power of the two partners and the power as a sexual motive were commonly linked to engaging in unusual sexual practices by both the women and men. Foucault demonstrates that in politics, the repression of sexuality is related to capitalism (Foucault, 8). Suppression in capitalism provides that workers were not permitted to have sex as a pleasure but only as a means of reproduction. When one speaks about sex as unaccepted, a conflict is created on the established order and the dynamic power expressed by repression. The discourse that is experienced on sexuality and linked to power through a restraint can be categorized by changing the global laws, true revelation and the promise of felicity.

The government can apply its powers through the execution of laws that render certain sexual behaviors illegal. For example, sex between grandparents and children is considered illegal, and transgressors are often jailed or fined. Foucault stressed the role of power and knowledge in the establishment of sexual subjectivities (Elizabethe, 1).  No essential sexuality can be repressed or expressed, and this was supported by the argument that independent sexuality can be liberated from constraint. According to Foucault, the sexuality history encompasses an extended study on the numerous mechanisms applied in different societies with an aim to repression.  Sexuality becomes practical through the circulation of discourses, and when a transformation is observed on the discourses, the fundamentals of sexual meaning also changes.     Sexual discourses comprise the language that is used to describe sexuality and this enhanced the interest of Foucault on the construction of sexuality on a broader view.  Heterosexuality has been mentioned as one of the experiences that explains the relationship between power and sexuality (Anna, 1). Thereafter arises the need to control the sexual behavior which could probably endanger the lives of women who were less powerful to influence sex and also among the heterosexuals. Regulation of sex through the application of productive power was necessary since it informed subjectivity into powerful constructs. Another form of power that was addressed in the study is the sexual inequality emerging in activism and theorizing.

In conclusion, the relationship that is observed between power and sexuality can be demonstrated through the dimension of power relations to regulatory, productive and unequal powers. The sexual possibilities can be observed in historical homoeroticism and construction. The different forms of power play a significant role in determining sexuality. Productive powers are aimed at developing positive sexual behaviors among men and women and in creating a society of morality. Power determines how sexuality in society is viewed, and productive power constructively transforms a community.

 
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