Biopolitics and feminist Philosophy

Foucault recognizes diverse forms of political rationality that articulate in a specific way the procedures aimed at resolving the issue of "how to govern", distinguishing between societies of sovereignty, discipline and security. Biop ower emerges in the transition from disciplinary societies to societies of security as the articulation of two technologies: the anatomopolitics and biopolitics. Sex is the hinge that links the two axis along which the political technology of life is developed. It is related to the disciplining of the body (the domestication, intensification and distribution of its strengths) and with the regulation of the population. Sex translates the "political energy" as well as "the biological vigor" of a society. Nonetheless, Foucalt insists on leaving sex and desire aside in favor of the issue of the role of pleasures. These arguments by Foucault have been problematized by various feminist theorists. On the one hand, they denounce the masculine character of his rhetoric, the androcentrism of his perspective and the pessimism of his vision. On the other hand, they help inspire new analyses of the technologies of the body which make visible the specific gender differences, as well as the possibility to build new political projects in support of the emancipation of women.