Role of Sexuality in Sociology

Social constructionist and post modernist thinking about sexual behavior is rooted in the ides of the renowned French Philosopher Michel Foucault (1978). Foucault saw societies as constructing sexual regimes-entire complex complexes of sexual attitudes, values, and practices that were infused with politics. He urged us to deconstruct these regimes so that we could see them for what they are. Some of the most prominent recent social constructionist/postmodern theorists of human sexuality are Steven Seidman and Adrienne Rich. These thinkers are opposed to Essentialism. Or the notion that sexuality is part of our biological nature and that there are certain universal types of it. Seidman tells us that sex is social and that this inevitably makes it political.