SEXUALITY, SELF, AND IDENTITY
Michael Foucault, in The History of Sexuality: "Sexuality is a word that now serves a purpose like the word soul did in the Middle Ages. In that period, people believed that one's soul united the various aspects of human identity and gave significance to that identity. Today,the word sexuality serves a similar function... sexuality, self and identity are so closely linked by present usage that at times they virtually merge into one another. ...It is easy to understand why more and more people believe that to deny a sexual relation to oneself or another simply on the basis of marital status .. is to deny the self in a destructive and morally insupportable way."