The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Volume 1 Part Two,
Chapter 2 Foucault brings up the possible objection that though
there has been an increase in discourse on sex, this discourse
has been directed at reducing non- reproductive sexual practices
and rendering sex economically useful and politically
conservative. Foucault replies that modern discourse has
certainly not reduced the forms of non-reproductive sexual
practices: on the contrary, this era has seen a multiplication
of different kinds of sexual "perversion." While discourse on
sex had previously dealt solely with marriage—what one could and
could not do within and without the bonds of marriage—discourse
on sex came increasingly to focus on those who fell outside the
category of marriage: children, homosexuals, the mentally ill,
and so on. A distinction arose between violations of marriage
bonds, which were seen as violations of the law, and violations
of what was considered natural practice, which were seen as sick
or demented. Since the 18th