“Do you realize, that people are still having sex?”: Teaching the History of Sexuality v. 1 with 90s House

So, whenever I teach Foucault’s History of Sexuality, v. 1 to undergraduates, they usually have difficulty “getting” the book’s two main claims: (1) that sex is not repressed, and (2) that power is relational and productive, not a substance that some hold over others. These two claims roughly translate to the first (We Other Victorians) and last (The Right to Death and the Power Over Life) sections, respectively.

So, how to impress upon students these two claims, preferably in a way that will be easily remember? Since music makes a good mnemonic aid, and since I’ve been going through a 90s house thing recently, here are two songs, one for each main claim.

(1) sex is not repressed – La Tour, “People Are Still Having Sex”

“Do you realize, that people are still having sex/They’ve been told not to, to absolutely no effect” –> there’s your argument that precisely insofar as we’re constantly talking about sex (to say how repressed we are or ought to be), sex is anything but repressed. Also of note that the above video is the “clean” version, where “This AIDS thing’s not working” is changed to “This ‘safe’ thing’s not working”. Indeed, what was 80s/90s AIDS discourse if not more talking about sex? Particularly the sex of those “Other” Regan/Thatcher/Bush/Major-ites?

(2) Power is relational, productive, and disciplinary; it is not a substance, nor is it necessarily inhibitive, nor is it something one “has” (or lacks) – Snap, “I Got the Power!”

This is a negative example. Snap’s refrain – “I Got the Power!” – is exactly the OPPOSITE of Foucault’s claim (in the same way dude’s amazing fade is the total opposite of Foucault’s baldness…).

Again, this is pretty basic, but it is these basic points that often (in my experience) give first-time readers of Foucault the most difficulty.

Other suggestions? (They can even be other genres).