Sex and Power Within Society Analytical Essay by Top Papers

The paper looks at how Foucault discussed the evolution of power within society and how it altered the gender roles of people, as well as the perceptions of sex related to deviant behavior and social acceptance in both genders. The paper then looks at how Stoler (1999) discussed the knowledge that the European gender philosophy that suggested that native females seen as sexually uninhibited were sources of "contagions" that had to be controlled lest they infest the rest of society. The paper discusses how Butler concluded that gender roles eventually were supported by both males and females and that at the current time they have become ingrained as part of the social fabric and most individuals do not realize that they are "performing" gender specific roles in order to be accepted within society ("Butler's, n.d.). The paper shows how the theories of Butler, Stoler and Foucault support the fact that the significance that is placed on gender through sex has occurred because of the desire of the male population to maintain power over society, as well as individuals that do not support the male macho construct within their own gender.