“But why this return to a reflection on power, while the new challenge of his reflective effort is to reveal the mechanisms of sexuality? For many reasons, of which I will arbitrarily retain only two: that is, by confirming his analyses of power, Foucault wants to counter the claims of the Law, which, although it monitors or even prohibits certain sexual expressions, continues to be defined as an essential component of Desire itself; and also, because sexuality, as he understands it, or at least the meticulous interest with which it is approached today (a today that goes back quite a bit), marks the transition from a society of blood, or stamped by the symbolism of blood, to a society of knowledge, norm, and discipline.

[...] How much has Foucault been criticized, in his analyses of power, for indifference to a central and fundamental authority! From here arises the ‘lack of politicization’ that is attributed to him, his refusal to engage in a struggle that could once have been decisive (the determining struggle), the absence of a universal reform in his work. However, they silence not only his immediate battles but also his decision not to engage in the game of ‘grand designs’, which would merely serve as a privileged alibi for everyday subservience.” Maurice Blanchot