Blog 4: Theorists

In lesson 08 we learned about identity and one thing the stood out to me was Michael Foucault’s “The History of Sexuality”. In this book Foucault writes a story about a simple-minded man in a French village who receives caresses from a little girl as he has done and seen before in the community. The parents of the girl reported him to the police and he was indicted. Foucault goes on to write that from a contemporary perspective we’d consider this man a pedophile and thinking nothing more of it. However, Foucault continues that he was simply doing what he has seen done and has been taught and that the social acceptance must have changed. He states the fact that the man engaged in this activity did not indicate anything about his identity or his character. While this story may not directly reflect my archive, it is Foucault’s principle of identity that sticks out to me and this archive. In lesson 6 we learned about the Stonewall riots and what happened when police raided gay bars and the community finally took a stand. During the stonewall era, there were no known openly LGBT police officers but surely if I had to put money on it, I’d bet there were certainly LGBT officers in the NYPD and even at stonewall. If applying this theory to police officers during Stonewall, if there were LGBT officers that engaged in the harassment and riots at Stonewall than what does that say about their LGBTG identity and their character? Would Foucault’s theory apply here in that engaging in that activity would not indicate anything about one’s identity or character. I’d absolutely disagree with Foucault on both terms and say it is a direct reflection of one’s character both in the story he provides as well as if there were closeted officers participating in the raids at Stonewall.

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