The History of Sexuality and Historical Methodology

Abstract

Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality has been the subject of debate among historians for decades. More specifically, his assertion, ‘the sodomite was a temporary aberration, the homosexual was now a species,’ has been used to support an ‘acts-to-identity’ theory that locates in the late-nineteenth century a shift in thinking about sexuality. The author argues that a re-reading of Foucault shifts the focus of historical inquiry from identities towards the process of knowledge creation, allowing for ambiguity that the concept ‘identity’ might foreclose. This essay examines the debate and offers a new reading of Foucault based on the work of Lynne Huffer. Finally, the author seeks to centre a source-driven approach in conjunction with The History of Sexuality, providing readings of patients and informants from the work of Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Havelock Ellis.