ABSTRACT
In his series of studies on the history of sexuality, Michel Foucault suggested that to more precisely investigate the relationship between sex and politics the focus should be on the extremes of power, on what might be described as its outer limits, and on the ways in which the workings of power flow through every social system (Foucault 1978, 2003). This conceptual turn was crucial in diverting researchers and activists from those sites considered to be the main (if not the only) sources of power – the state, capital, and religious authorities – in order to examine other places where sexuality and politics constantly intersect in more subtle ways. But this should not be interpreted to mean that state instruments to punish sexual conduct have disappeared.
