Foucault, gay subjectivity and the sociology of emotions in queer studies

"The entire art of life consists of killing off psychology" declared [Michel] Foucault in 1981 (Defert and Ewald 1994: 256; Halperin 2007: .4). This epigrammatic statement vividly captures the political and ethical attitude shared by so many lesbians, gay men and other queer scholars and activists of his generation "who, like him, had spent a lifetime struggling against their own sense of psychological deviance" (Halperin 2007: 4), and who spent enormous energy fending off "the unflattering judgments of psychological experts and... [dodging] the constant, perennial accusations of perversion, sickness, [and] abnormality" (Halperin 2007: 5).

source: 'Foucault, gay subjectivity and the sociology of emotions in queer studies' by Alexander Lambevski; Review of the article 'What do gay men want?: An essay on sex, risk, and subjectivity' by David M. Halperin; sextures.net/lambevski-review-article-halperin; Review: Sextures; December 2009