Foucault, power and the control of female/feminized bodies

Abstract

The present study's theme is power relations, based on Foucault's thought, in order to enable the reading of the production of female and feminized bodies in the historical trajectory of women's struggles/resistance. Based on this theoretical framework, we aim to answer the question: does the reading of power relations, especially on a Foucauldian basis, provide support for understanding part of the strategies used to control female and feminized bodies today? In order to answer this question, the deductive approach method is adopted, composing the broad trajectory of power relations, as established by Foucault, so that it is later viable to make specific inferences about contemporary reality and the affect of women. The basic methodology is consistent with the historical-monographic procedure, being an in-depth study in perspective, as well as the research technique of indirect documentation. In summary, it is concluded that the bases established by Foucault for power relations still bring valuable understandings of the forms and strategies of control of female and feminized bodies, finding crossings between sovereign, disciplinary and biopolitical devices. However, it is equally clear that the dimensions of power now delimited help in the interpretation of new phenomena that seek to re-update or transmute forms of control over women today, even if with the use of coercive devices and far from the sophistication of more sophisticated techniques. insidious aspects of the exercise of power in today's societies.