The Normal Delinquint

7 Pages 1806 Words

d punishment a “legal justification” and “a baptism as it were, of a new type of supervision- both knowledge and power over individuals who resisted disciplinary normalization” thus making it a “natural[,] legitimate” and a widely accepted practice (1615). In the fourth of the series, what I feel is the very core of the argument is laid out with regards to its relation to sexuality. It proclaims that with this system comes the emergence of a new type of law- “the norm”. “The judges of normality are present everywhere… the teacher judge, the doctor judge, the educator judge, the ‘social-worker’ judge…” all based upon “ the universal reign of the normative” where “his body, his gestures, his behaviors, his aptitudes, his achievements” are all observed and analyzed (1620). The standard by which all are measured is based upon the ideals of: the sane man, the law-abiding citizen, the obedient child, and, as will be further explored, the heterosexual marriage or relationship. The ideal of ‘a norm’ also implies an existence of a ‘delinquent’ or an ‘anomaly’. Thus it seems that the ‘the norm’ as shown here, evaluates and controls our daily actions and discourse.
The two final examples of the argument lend into one another saying that once one is ‘captured’, it allows for a “perpetual observation” which makes resistance to the system almost impossible (1620). Although, this ...