the Female Body GOVERNING

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barbara mennel
masochism and sadism, their discourse nevertheless complicates our
accounts of power and sexuality with perverse pleasure. And while antis/m
feminists project a reductive vision of sexuality beyond patriarchal
power, governmentality is unable to provide a framework to account
for the utopian vision and agency that attacks institutions perpetuating
the sexualization of gendered violence. Foucault aides us to see the
production of power even in discourses outside traditional institutions
of the state, such as the government and the family, yet those discourses
also serve to highlight Foucault’s own idealizations and historical blind
spots.
Notes
1. Diamond and Quinby’s (1988) work includes several important essays on
the topic and a substantial selected bibliography. Deveaux (1994) offers an
insightful historical account of the feminist reception of Foucault. I will engage
with several feminist writers on Foucault in the course of this chapter.
2. The translation from the German is mine.
3. Despite the fact that a use of Butlerian (1990) argument seems to be applicable
to a theory based on the performative aspects of lesbian s/m, she is included
in the volume Against Sadomasochism.
4. Between 1886 and 1903, Krafft-Ebing edited fourteen editions of Psychopathia
sexualis, two under the title Neue Forschungen auf dem Gebiet der Psychopathia
sexualis (New Research in the Field of the Psychopathia Sexualis). He continuously
added new case histories and sometimes new perversions. In 1890, Krafft-
Ebing introduced masochism in conjunction with sadism in Psychopathia
sexualis, which appeared under the title Neue Forschungen auf dem Gebiet der
Psychopathia sexualis. My quotes and page numbers follow the English edition
cited in the References.
5. The German edition states three and lists three cases. The English edition
states that “two cases of masochism in woman have been scientifi cally
established,” (197) yet then goes on to list three cases (197-200).
6. They reference Rose (1996).
References
Alexander, M. (1987). Passion play. In SAMOIS (Ed.), Coming to power: Writings and
graphics on lesbian s/m (pp. 230–244). Boston: Allyson. (Originally published
in 1981)
Bailey, C. (1987). Girl gang. In SAMOIS (Ed.), Coming to power: Writings and graphics
on lesbian s/m (pp. 141–147). Boston: Allyson. (Originally published in 1981)
Bröckling, U., Lemke, T., & Krasmann, S. (2000). Gouvernementalität, neoliberalism
und selbsttechnologien. Eine einführung [Governmentality, neo-liberalism,
and technologies of the self: An introduction.]. In U. Bröckling, S. Krasmann,
& T. Lemke, Gouvernnementalität der gegenwart: Studien zur ökonomisierung des
sozialen [Governmentality of the contemporary: Studies of the economization of the
social] (pp. 7–40). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New
York: Routledge.