Modern Day Sexuality

In the modern age of sexuality there is a consistent shame associated with lying within the peripherals of passion and sexuality. With the general public growing more tolerant and less judgmental the possibilities of a new comprehension on the fundamentals associated with sexual preference are becoming actualized. Through the awareness of historical critique there can be the promotion of social justice. Michel Foucault has been at the forefront of reinterpreting history since the 20th century. In Carolyn J. Dean’s article in History and Theory, “The Productive Hypothesis: Foucault, Gender, and the History of Sexuality” highlights and critiques on the technologies of sex, a theory of Foucault, aids in the separation of further reinforced social
Schultz’s article in Poetica, “Parzival, Courtly Love, and the History of Sexuality” analyses of various schemas on the regularity of sexuality that date back to the 15th century illustrates how these arrangements have perpetuated a specific idea of modern day love. Schultz, a professor of Germanic Language and Gender Studies at University of California, Los Angeles, founded the program of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies at the university. His interest in medievalism and sexuality creates a foundation of questioning as to why sexuality has evolved in such a way. An understanding of the present day assumption that our exterior selves must declare our sex and gender type is discussed and
Foucault has worded all other sexual preferences not falling into the category of “heterosexual monogamy” as “peripheral sexualities” , meaning those lying on the outside of the normal standard. This idea of peripheral sexualities has reinforced an idea that love and sex must reside in a normal standard deviation. Schultz’s mentions that it is “the body that provokes love, and it is not marked by the sex of an individual” (39), the understanding of courtly love breaks the modern day stereotypes about the idea of love we have grown to become accustomed too. Courtly love as Shultz’s mentions is not determined by the sex of the individual but by how the body of said individual makes the lover feel. Love has nothing to do with the sex, or gender, of a being, “Love begins when the lover sees the beloved, the image of the beloved enters through the eyes, lodges in the heart, and takes the lover captive” (43). Courtly love emphasizes the point that the body and the tug of desire to a person and the sexual inclination involved are directly related. In modern and medieval times this stands true. In the 15th century when courting someone was more common the standard definition of heterosexuality was not yet comprehended. Therefore it is not the sex that attracts someone to another, it is the desire and pull they internally feel. In the body lies a power to