Society and sexuality while waiting for the barbarians, and history of sexualityIn our modern minds reside two very different ways of approaching the subject of sexuality. The conceptual framework of modern society has, to some extent, developed from past notions about the body. We find that from our historical roots, issues related to sexuality have been dealt with through mutual feelings of desire and disgust. The relationship between these two opposing feelings arises from a double meaning of our awareness of our sexuality. One direction we are moving in is to view all sexual content as socially degressive. The other goes to the opposite extreme. Sexuality is a topic that is constantly talked about, but usually not openly. In some ways, our sexuality also causes us to feel desire for our “other side” – the side we don’t show to many other people. The two poles represent aspects of a spectrum that we all find ourselves on, both attracted to both extremes. The fact that we fall somewhere on this scale in the first place points to another reason beyond the reach of immediate family. The situation we find ourselves in as individuals in modernity is an arena of preconstructed rules and regulations regarding our sexuality. The doctrine of sex in our world has been determined by the actions and thoughts of past generations. We rely on their conceptual machinery to generate our own meaning within the world. The duality between desire and disgust, as it relates to sexuality, is something that has been passed down to us through generations of social learning. In his book, The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault presents evidence showing the link between..... . middle of paper...... interest in the subject as a hidden part of human existence. The dual mechanism of distancing and the desire to experience something personally serves to formulate the way in which we view our sexuality. Through the creation of this binary relationship, we as a society have learned that there are parts of ourselves that are off limits in normal discussions. To go beyond these lines is to travel into universes that evoke “perversion” or the experience of an “alternative lifestyle”. This societal creation tells us that certain parts of our personality are parts that we should not explore, even though we might be pushed to do so. It is because of these drives, which exist in each of us, that we are forced to come to terms with ourselves and with what it means to be part of our society. Works Cited: Coetzee, JM 1980 Waiting for the Barbarians Harmondsworth, Penguin.